When Our Tails Are Tied
by KillCipher
Summary: Things are changing at the Chuunin Exams. Insane murderers turn terrified...innocent people turn insane...friends are foes, foes are friends, legends are life, and there's a...Fox? Follow the crow as the view gets turned upside down.
1. Is This A Dream?

**Arc Zero: Prologue**

 **Is This A Dream?**

* * *

Heavy sobs filled the ice cold air, the pitiful sound harshly slicing through the darkness.

 _"I...I **hate** you..."_

The death of the shinobi went unheard...until he went up in a powerful explosion of fire. Illuminating the once dark street, the fire consumed the man, leaving no trace that he had even been there.

The chakra induced fire went out, and the smoke and dust cleared away only to reveal a large dome of sand.

A loud wail pierced the night once more, and the dome abruptly shattered, streams of sand and bits of glass flying everywhere. The sand quickly circled itself back in, some lifting off the ground into a halo of spikes. In the midst of all the sand was a child. He was crying, and rubbing his streaming eyes with his fists. Blood red hair flopped into his darkly circled eyes, which he cracked open to reveal to be a watery teal color.

Gaara's sobs gave way to sleepy hiccups, although he had not calmed down not one bit.

The man who had raised him, the man he looked up to more than he did his own father... He said he hated him...

 _"...I..I thought I could learn to love you...I was WRONG."_

Gaara thought he was a good boy. He did everything that anyone asked of him, even though most people were mean to him. His father approved of him, at least Gaara thought he did...

 _"You shouldn't...be allowed to live...the only person you could ever love is yourself...you're a MONSTER..."_

Tears came forth in Gaara's eyes once more. He wasn't a monster, was he? That's just one of the mean names grown ups and bullies call him...right?

 _"I was actually a bit...relieved when the Kazekage gave me this mission...to **kill** the demon..."_

Well he had to be a monster then, if Father had sent someone to kill him... And his guardian did say that monsters only loved themselves... Gaara couldn't think of anyone else alive that he loved.

The sneaky tendrils of sleep curled around Gaara, pulling him into unconsciousness. Gaara can hear the exited screeching of insanity clawing inside his head, willing him to make an opening. To go to sleep...

The last thought that went through Gaara's mind was, _So that's it then...I'm a monster... I have to love myself, and only myself...I am a monster._

The poor child's eyes finally slid closed as his sand circled back to him increasing him into another airtight sphere.

For a few seconds, all that could be heard was the soft sound of the sand moving. Then an impossibly loud laugh boomed through the night, followed by an exhilarated, **"FINALLY! HAHA, I'D FORGOTTEN HOW IT FELT TO BE FREE AGAIN!"**

Those words were immediately followed by a deafening screech, and then silence.

Some excess sand trickled from the child's dome, before the entire thing crumbled away, revealing the boy's small shivering body. He was still crying, though he seems to be sleeping.

"Hey!"

Gaara's eyes shot open. There was light...wasn't it nighttime a second ago? Gaara sat up, sand rolling off of his clothes. He saw a fire... And those tall things around it, were those trees? Gaara didn't have any trees where he came from...

"Hey! Boy!"

Gaara's eyes widened. Was someone talking to him? No one ever speaks to him...directly, at least.

"Hm...well, this different." A pair of eyes appeared in Gaara's vision, and he toppled backward in surprise. The eyes were bright blue, and seemed to glow in the flickering light of the fire, and the pupils were slit like a fox.

The newcomer bounced away to show a small body and an untamed head of golden blonde hair. Six large cuts were bleeding on his face, three on each cheek carefully arranged like whiskers.

The boy looked to be no older than six, not much older than Gaara himself.

"Hi!"

Gaara jumped again. That boy was definitely talking to him. "O-Oh...Hi..." Gaara mumbled, getting back on his tiny feet.

The boy in front of him grinned, showing scarily large canines. Blue eyes landed on his own, and Gaara could see a glint of insanity as the fox-like eyes widened happily.

The blonde's grin grew wider. "Well?" he asked. Gaara blinked, and pointed at himself. The blonde giggled and nodded.

"Yeah you, dummy! Well? Aren't you going to pick up?" he grinned, eyes flicking down to Gaara's feet, then locking back on his eyes.

Gaara ignored the boy's terrible speech as he glanced down at his feet. Mere inches from his bare toes sat a brown stuffed bear. It was his wasn't it? He can't remember...how had it gotten there? Had he dropped it? Gaara leaned down to pick up the bear. He could almost feel the blonde boy's eyes burning the back of his head...

Gaara's hand reached out to grab the bear by it's arm when he froze. Where was his sand? Only soft green grass peeked out between his toes, and the feeling was quite unfamiliar. Gaara quickly straightened, and upon seeing the playful grin on the blond's face, shot him a glare of his own.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Gaara demanded angrily.

The blue eyed boy scoffed, "More like why you here. I here first, so there." he stuck his tounge out at the redhead. "And I can't tell you name. It hurts." he puffed his cheeks out.

Gaara frowned again. "Well, my name is-"

Gaara tried to say his name but his voice suddenly stopped working. A sharp pain split through his skull, before his mouth moved on it's own.

 **"N-NO! GeT AWaY, GEt AwAY!"** Gaara screamed in a warped voice, his hands clutching at his hair. His vision blurred and sharpened, teal blue eyes darkening before lightening to a sickly gold color, with black swirls around the iris. **"We HaVE tO GeT awAy! H-He'S tOo CLo- _oOsE_ -"** Gaara shook violently, before the pain went away entirely, leaving him gasping for breath. After a few seconds of breathing, Gaara's eyes reverted back to his normal eye color.

Gaara weakly lifted his head to see the blonde laughing at him. "Ha! Hurt, didn't it? Okay, okay! Since you did it, I'll do too, it's only fair." he shrugged.

Gaara tried to tell him that he didn't have to, but gave up and continued controlling his breathing.

The blond's eyes flashed happily. " _My_ name N-" the kid gasped in pain and doubled over, both hands now in the grass.

He groaned in pain, lowering his head. "Ugh...heh heh... **heh heh heh...hahaHAHAhAHaHAhAh!"**

The blonde kid raised his head, the blue in his eyes draining away to reveal an angry blood red. The slashes on his cheeks darkened and more blood streamed out of them.

Gaara took a step back as the kid's insane laughter grew louder. The grass around the boy blackened as if an intense heat was on it, and his golden hair degraded to a dirty blonde color. He continued laughing until he abruptly stopped, a pained look in his face.

"Oh...ow." he frowned. Then he started giggling again. "I feels stupid now." he laughed, rubbing his face.

Gaara's eyes watered once more. "Why are you doing this?"

The blue eyed boy stopped laughing and stood back up. "I thought this fun...this fun, right?" he asked.

Gaara shook his head. "N-No.. I don't know! Why are you being nice to me?! I'm a monster!" he cried.

The blue eyed boy froze. "You're...you're...monster?" He said quietly.

Gaara nodded and waited for the boy to run away. They always ran...

Gaara was shocked as the boy laughed and glomped him. "Ha! You've forgotten, ototou! I'm monster too!" he said happily.

Gaara choked and shoved the blonde off him and into the grass. Where was his sand when he needed it? He guessed he had used more force than he thought, because the boy flew off of him and skidded across the grass to the other side of the fire.

As soon as he slowed, the blonde jumped to his feet, tears streaming down his face. "That not nice! That not fair! A little guy like you should no be that strong!"

Gaara narrowed his eyes at the dramatic boy. He was not little.

The boy's tears disappeared in a record amount of time, "It doesn't matter! The point is, it's fun being monster! And now we be monsters together!" he tried to re-glomp Gaara, but he sidestepped.

The boy was about to faceplant, but he slowed himself, smile sliding off his face.

"Oh...oh no..." the boy frowned. Gaara looked at him curiously.

The blonde boy turned to Gaara with large sad blue eyes. "Aw... I'm not going to be monster no more... So we can't have fun together no more..." he pouted.

Despite how irritating the blonde was, Gaara still heard himself complain. "What? Why?" he whined.

The blond was upon him in seconds. "Oh, it alright ototou... Maybe I'll be back myself after while!" he ruffled Gaara's hair affectionately.

Gaara leaned into the impossibly warm touch. "B-But...what do you mean you're not going to be a monster anymore?"

The blue eyed boy shook his head. "The old man say he wants to _'fix me'_..." he sneered. He huffed and crossed his arms. "Its cause of him I broken anyways. The stupid villagers call me demon, devil, monster..." he bared his teeth at nothing. "I _give them_ demon, devil, **MoNStEr..."** he smiled. Gaara's eyes widened as one of the boy's blue eyes melted into red, and the slash marks bled more.

"They hurt me...I hurt them _more_. And now he says he fix me. I don't wanna...but he do it now, while I sleep." The blonde shook his head sadly.

Gaara frowned. "Sleep?"

The boy nodded, both slitted eyes blue again. "Yep. When I get out of here, I won't be me no more. I be... I don't know what I be when I get out..." he pouted.

Gaara frowned. "Then why don't you just stay here?"

"I don't know where here is. I here only when I sleep. But now you here. Only I ever here." the blonde shrugged. "I know I can't be monster no more, but you can." He pulled his hand away from Gaara's hair.

"I-I can?"

"Yep! Show them they don't mess with us! We better, and stronger, and they be mean to us!? No way! Don't let them be, ototou." The boy smiled sadly. Gaara felt the world shift. He looked down, and there was soft tan sand between his toes. The bear was still at his feet. He leaned down and grabbed it by the arm. He stood back up to see the blue eyed boy sinking into the sand.

"W-Wait! You said you won't be yourself anymore! Will I ever see you again?" Gaara asked willing his sand to pull him back up.

The boy lifted his head and looked at Gaara with wide eyes. "You know, that not bad idea. When we see each other again, you make me myself again, okay ototou?" Gaara's sand was turning to glass around the blonde boy.

"And just so you know," the boy winced, the slits in his eyes turning into circular pupils, "You is asleep, boy."

Gaara tilted his head at the blonde devil. "I-Is this...is this a dream?"

He shot him an insane grin. **"DeFiNiTeLy."**

Gaara's grip on him shattered into glass shards as the world pitched into darkness.

* * *

 **End Of Arc**


	2. 1: What Did You Do To Me?

**Ohayo, minna! Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Arc 1**

 **When Our Tails Are Tied- Part 1: What Did You Do to Me?**

* * *

I groaned and curled in tighter around myself.

 _Please let it been a dream... please..._

"Naruto?"

I whined once again and tried to push off the warm hands that were resting on top of my hair.

 _It was just dream...just dream..._

"Come on, Naruto. Wake up." the voice chuckled.

 _Don't answer_ , I thought. _He do not deserve answer no more._

"No...I don't wanna..." my voice betrayed me. _What? No!_

"Naruto, wake up."

 _No! I hate you! Why you do this to me?_

I clamped my eyes shut harder, but then they opened on their own. The Hokage stood looking down on me, smiling past that stinking smoke pipe. I looked around, noticing that I was in a bed in his office. The hospital must have refused to let me in...

"How do you feel, Naruto-kun?" he smiled warmly.

 _Terrible! What wrong with me? What you do to me?_

Instead I rubbed my eyes and yawned. "I...I fine, I think..."

 _No, no, no! Not what I mean! I not trying to say these things! What did you do?!_

"What...what happen, old man?" I yawned.

The Hokage stopped smiling, and pulled his pipe from his lips. He bowed his head low, his wide brim hat hiding his eyes.

"Naruto...a few days ago, you got a little angry. The villagers were chasing you again. I don't know what happened, but... It seems that they made you really angry."

"Oh no, I not hurt them did I?" I gasped.

 _Ha, I beat them good!...didn't I?_

"You were so angry, I had to send ANBU Dog to get you. You had knocked yourself out pretty bad before he got there, so you probably don't remember some things." he smiled softly.

The silence followed.

"Naruto." he said sharply. I jumped, eyes snapping back to him. He looked serious.

"What do you think of Konoha?" he asked stiffly.

I faltered. "It's..."

 _It's the living hell that my home. I live here, I won't die here._

"It's home." I said. He relaxed, leaning back in his seat by my bed.

"That's good..." he nodded, handing me a glass of water.

I blinked. Where he get that from so fast?

I took the glass from him, almost dropping it through my pudgy hands. I didn't drink it. Instead I looked into the water, carefully eyeing my reflection.

My naturally tanned skin, unmanageable golden blonde hair, and bright heavenly blue eyes. I noticed with disdain that the slits in my eyes had gone away, and my canines were less sharper than before. Aw, I had actually gotten used to that feral look. It only lasted for a day and a half though... The villagers had angered me so much that I decided to give them the monster that they wanted me to be. I ran wild for a whole day and spent half of another fighting off a few ninjas that the old man had sent after me...

I traced my fingers lightly over the unfamiliar scars on my face. "Hey, old man?" I called suspiciously.

"Yes Naruto?" he asked.

"What are this on my face here?" _You know what they did, the ninjas not listen to you...What did you do to cuts they made on my face?_

"Oh, those. Those are your birthmarks." he stated with a smile. "See, I told you that you might have forgotten some important things."

My eyes watered as I stared him down. It seems that even though I can't do or say what I want, my thoughts and emotions carry through.

 _Why you lie to me? Why you do this?_

I pull my legs up to my chest and rest my chin on my knees.

"...O-Okay..." I mumble.

* * *

 **End of Arc 1**


	3. 2: Life On The Inside- 1

**Ohayo, minna! Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Arc 2**

 **When Our Tails Are Tied- Arc 2: Life On The Inside-**

 **Section 1**

* * *

I laughed wickedly as I ran from half a dozen of pissed Chuunins and ANBU.

It's kind of sad that half of those guys are one step down from being the strongest ninjas in the village, but can't catch a 10 year old prankster.

 _I might not be able to do what I want, but I will still make you all SUFFER! HA!_

"Catch me if you can, HAHA!" I taunted on the outside, angering the frustrated ninjas even further. They now chased me with increased vigor, half of them letting anger control them. A few let their hands stray to their weapons in agitation, but they didn't pull any, simply sticking to chasing me.

One of the Chuunins threw some ninja wire ahead to trip me up, but I built up more speed and slid directly under it. Some of the ANBU tried to kind of teleport right in front of me, but I just leaped over them entirely, pushing the back of their heads roughly towards the ground.

I let out another laugh as one of the ANBU I'd pushed actually made contact with the ground. Face first...

 _Ha, beautiful! Must be a rookie!_

I could imagine my other pursuers wince at the audible crack of the elegant porcelain mask. I inwardly shook my head at the rookie ANBU, but I continued anyway.

That is, until a familiar presence poofed into existence right in front of me, smoke and all. I reeled backwards in surprise as the cloud of smoke quickly disappeared, revealing another pissed Chuunin. This one however, was slightly different from the other pissed Chuunins, this one was my pissed Chuunin teacher.

"NARUTO!" Iruka glared down at me with narrowed eyes, the long scar slashed across his nose making it all the more menacing. I flinched, and laughed nervously.

"Haha, Iruka-sensei...what are you doing here?" I smiled and rubbed the back of my neck as most of the ANBU and Chuunins finally caught up. I could feel their glares on my back and the strong killer intent in the air.

Iruka's eyes nearly turned red as he grabbed me by the collar of my black shirt, lifting me off the ground. "WHY AREN'T YOU IN CLASS YOU IDIOT?!" he screeched.

"Um... Training?" I shrugged. "And just to be fair...why aren't _you_ in class? You _are_ the.. teacher..." I trailed off. Iruka shut his eyes in irritation, before raising his fist, all too prepared to punch the stupidity out of me.

"...I'll kill him! I'll tie him up and stick senbon needles into every inch of his skin, then rip off his legs and sharpen the bones into spikes and make him swallow them!"

Iruka froze mid-punch, and we both turned to see all six of the ninjas that were chasing me, five of them were holding one Anbu back: the rookie with the cracked mask. The other five ninjas had totally restrained him; two holding an arm each, one behind him with an arm locked around his neck, and two crouched down keeping his legs rooted to the ground.

"Get off of me! I'll kill him!" he growled, trying and failing to throw off the other ninjas.

Iruka growled and threw me roughly to the ground. I coughed and looked up just in time to see Iruka throw a killer uppercut right at the rookie Anbu. The familiar crack of porcelain rang out again as the other ninjas let go of him in shock.

The pieces of porcelain fell away to reveal an angry pale face and swirling red eyes, which had locked onto Iruka. Iruka shook his fist a with a grimace, keeping eye contact with the Anbu.

"I _strongly_ suggest you keep your distance, Uchiha-san." Iruka glared. I looked between the two, and both looked about ready to murder each other.

The Uchiha Anbu glared at Iruka with his disturbing red eyes before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. The other ninjas sweatdropped and quickly followed.

Iruka gave a exasperated sigh, before turning back to me.

I was sure I had stars in my eyes, and for once my voice actually agreed with my mind. "That was amazing." I breathed.

Iruka looked at me with a fire burning in his eyes, and whacked me upside the head. My eyes watered in pain as he grabbed me by the back of my shirt and dragged me away.

"I teach you how to talk correctly, and what do you do with it? You go and start pissing off people that won't hesitate to gut you! What the hell, Naruto! You're less likely to get killed if I tape your arms and legs to Sakura!" Iruka started on the angry rant.

 _Please don't._

"Then you try and come up with an idiotic excuse like 'training'? You aren't training yourself by trying to get yourself killed!"

 _I never said that I was the one getting trained._

 **_NARUTO_**

I sat sadly on the single swing that was located in the courtyard across from the school. I was 14 years old, and I failed the Genin exams... again.

On the outside I was miserable, but I was raging on the inside.

 _THAT TWO FACED SENSEI! He knows I still can't do a bunshin, my chakra won't allow it without any control training! He does this EVERY TIME!_

I stayed on the swing for about an hour, appearing downcast but still imagining as many ways and as many times that I can hurt Iruka without getting caught.

So far I had come up with two:

 _Catch him on his walk comimg from the bar with his friends and push him into the woman's hot springs. Indirect slaps, but still from me nonetheless. Total slaps estimated, 20-25._

 _Set trap over academy entrance set only to his chakra signature, 100 senbon and 50 shuriken?_

I frowned even deeper as I felt someone approach me from behind, but my idiotic inability to show my true actions prevented me from reacting.

"Naruto."

I jumped and turned to see Mizuki, the assistant teacher to my class. He smiled sadly at me, his greasy hair swaying in the breeze as I did on the swing.

I looked up at him in slight surprise. "Huh? Oh, hey Mizuki-sensei..." I said hollowly.

I must have been a sight never before seen: an angelic looking boy, with blue eyes so sad I looked as if I had freshly fallen from heaven itself, but fully considered a demon and tortured and shunned, no, neglected entirely. On top of all that, I was dressed in orange, of all colors. An orange jacket and cargo pants, lined in navy blue were the only things that kept my body from freezing to death, even though it was suicidal for a ninja like me to wear it... which is the only reason why they sold it to me.

"Look, Naruto-kun. I'm sorry about Iruka. He... doesn't seem to understand why you try so hard." Mizuki rested a hand on my shoulder.

 _Shut up, you bastard! Don't think I didn't see you smirking when he failed me, then you tried make him pass me! What's your problem?!_

"Yeah...I just don't get it! He tells me to study and to listen to him, and then I'll pass, then he goes and fails me! Again! Why would someone do that? What sense does that make?" I ranted on the outside.

Mizuki chuckled, to himself or at me- I don't know... His grip tightened on my shoulder as I dragged the swing to a stop, his eyes closing in a smile.

 _What is it you want, bastard?_

"Tell you what, Naruto. I'll give you another chance. Another exam." he said.

"Really?"

 _This creep wants something out of me, but what...?_

He nodded happily. "Definitely. Teachers are allowed to give different exams to students who have other potentials if they choose to. I don't know why _Iruka_ hasn't given you one yet, with how much he says how great you will be." Mizuki shrugged.

 _I don't know what he wants, but he's trying to set me against Iruka...I'll just follow along then._

"Really?! Thank you Mizuki-sensei!" I launched myself onto him, locking him into a hug. I smirked inwardly as he tensed. Mizuki laughed awkwardly and peeled me off his waist.

I looked at him expectantly.

"Great! Now, your test is to be considered a mission. Your mission is to retrieve a scroll from the Hokage's office vault, and bring it to me at a secret location. If you can correctly perform a jutsu from the scroll, you pass. Here are the directions to the meeting location," he handed me a slip of paper.

"Memorize it, then destroy it. The scroll you are looking for is easy to tell from the rest, it's nearly as tall as you are and has the kanji for 'forbidden' stamped on it in bold. Also, it is very important that you get in and out with the scroll _without_ being seen, okay?" Mizuki informed earnestly.

My eyes shone with happiness and determination. "HAI!" I confirmed, then disappeared in a burst of speed.

As I dashed away I could almost feel him smirk and shake his head, as I heard him muttering, "Stupid..."

Funny, I inwardly did the same to him.


	4. 2: Life On The Inside- 2

**Ohayo, minna! Enjoy! :)**

* * *

 **Arc 2**

 **When Our Tails Are Tied- Part Two: Life On The Inside-**

 **Section 2**

* * *

The lights around the Hokage Tower were dim, so nobody saw me perched silently on the nearby rooftops.

 _Thanks bastard-Mizuki! I might be seen as stupid, but nobody is stupid enough to believe that 'retrieving' something clearly labeled forbidden is not illegal._

I flattened myself against the roof as an ANBU made his rounds again. I had ditched the orange I was wearing for the sake of the "mission", taking off the jacket to use my dark blue shirt to an advantage. The orange pants had come off too, revealing black shorts with a stripe going around one leg the same color as my eyes.

 _But if this so called 'forbidden scroll' has powerful jutsu that I can learn, then I'm all too happy to use my stupidity to the fullest. I'll read and learn as much as I can, then beat that traitor Mizuki into oblivion!_

I grinned excitedly as the ANBU met the end of his route and shunshined away into another section of the village with a swirl of leaves.

As soon as the last leaf touched the ground, I pushed off, shooting off the roof and towards the tower. I was upon it in seconds, but instead of slowing down to enter, I sped up. I poured on more speed, and ran straight up the tower.

Yep. Right up the wall.

 _Forget chakra training! Pure speed is AMAZING!_

I ran straight up the tower, at some points spiraling around the wall to keep up speed. I quickly made it to the top and thief vaulted through the window. (Oh, the irony of that name..)

I rolled as soon as I hit the floor of the office. I had waited for the perfect time, the ANBU officers stationed in this office swapped out with new ones every 10 hours, which (today) was now, 8:00PM. This trade always took two minutes exactly, because the ANBU always debated on who should go or not, (because it was seriously boring watching someone doing paperwork) leaving the Hokage fully unguarded.

 **120...**

I quickly stood, eyeing the room around me. There...I spotted a scratch on the otherwise blemish free wall.

"Naruto?" I jumped.

 _DAMMIT, SO CLOSE...YET SO FAR..._

Although it seems that I have forgotten a minor detail... The Hokage sat patiently at his desk, pausing in his paperwork.

"What are you doing?" he asked tiredly.

I took a deep breath to calm my startled nerves. "Hey old man. Totally forgot about you there for a minute..." I muttered, checking my internal timer.

 **97...**

"Yes, but what are you doing here? Why did you come in the window?" He locked onto my eyes.

I sighed, frowning deeply. _I need to move_... "Look old man, I need something that you have in this vault." I pointed at the scratch on the wall.

"You need something from...who told you about the vault?" Hiruzen looked genuinely surprised.

 _Yeah, just assume someone told me about it. Not like I could figure it out on my own._

I growled in irritation. "Not enough time, open it."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's mouth flattened into a hard line. "Naruto... I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Now."

I huffed. "And I'm going to have to ask you again..."

 **72...**

"Henge!"

I transformed into a tall, slender female version of myself, completely naked and blushing. Two long blonde pigtails swung from either side of my head and covered my cleavage, along with an arm. I bent down low with a finger to my lips, wisps of smoke from the technique lingering around my nether regions. I looked up at him shyly through my long lashes and pouted.

"Open the vault for me... _pleeeeeease,_ Hokage-sama?" I whined, even my voice had turned feminine.

The Hokage paled and shivered violently, then was propelled backwards by the sheer amount of force of his nose gushing blood.

I released the Henge and dodged a splat of blood headed straight for me. The blood instead hit the wall right behind me, where the vault was. The wall glowed and shimmered away, revealing an open door.

 **43...**

 _Exploit any and all weaknesses._

I spared a glance at the man on the floor behind me, who had passed out from deadly perverted-ism. I had used the same trick on Iruka yesterday, and it worked the same. Who knows, maybe all of the most powerful ninjas in the world are perverts.

 _Not going to be me_ , I thought, shaking my head, face finally settling on a neutral expression. I entered the vault and (how conveniently) the scroll that I wanted was leaned against the door frame.

I picked up the large scroll and attached it to my back using the little chakra control I know.

 **25...**

Turning on my heel I broke into a dead sprint. I exited the vault and ran past the Hokage's desk, past the incoherently muttering pervert, and launched myself back out the window.

Despite how exhilarating freefalling from a who-knows-how-tall building should be, I was blocking it all out and focusing on getting away. I tilted my body at an angle to guide me back to my rooftop perch.

 **10...**

I landed with a lot of force, bending my knees to absorb the shock.

 **9...**

I continued running, leaping across the rooftops with intense concentration.

 **8...**

I was halfway across Konoha, jumping over entire streets to get to the next rooftop, and the next...

 **7...**

I slid down the side of a building and ran through an alleyway. The forest was so close...

 **6...**

I made sure nobody was looking before I dashed into the forest at full speed, dodging trees and pulling the directions to my mind...

 **5...**

Almost there...the ANBU won't know where to look...

 **4...**

I can see the spot now, a broken down building that has a small clearing..

 **3...**

I slid to a stop in the middle of the clearing, and released the chakra and pulled the scroll from my back.

 **2...**

I pushed down all of my chakra, which was hard to do because of it's size. The ANBU won't be looking for villager size chakra, they'll be looking for the familiar feeling of my immense supply of chakra.

 **1.**

I shook my head as felt the chakra flare, meaning something was wrong, and all ninjas Chuunin and above were needed.

 _So called 'elite', and still can't catch a prankster, even when he goes rogue._

 **_NARUTO_**

I immediately sit down and examine the scroll.

It indeed has the kanji for 'forbidden' painted largely on the side in black ink. The scroll seemed to be really old, as it's paper was hard and more tanned. I felt around the scroll for the opening. I felt the uplift of the edge right on the kanji, and hooking my fingers under it, I unfurled the scroll.

The first thing I saw pissed me off: **Kage Bunshin/ Tajuu Kage Bunshin.**

 _Is it typical or lucky that this shit is the first on the list?_ I inwardly shook my head. I rolled my eyes and read more about this bunshin.

 **Shadow Clone Jutsu/ Multi Shadow Clone Justu:** **A clone that can be made with immense amounts of chakra, but unlike normal clones, are completely physical and cast shadows.**

 **Place hands in tiger seal and use desired amount of chakra for different outcomes.**

I raised my eyebrows at that. Definitely lucky.

 _Completely physical... Most people would just take that as 'solid'... But 'completely' physical... Does that include the mind? Can't have physical without being mental._

I shrugged and continued reading.

 **Fire Whips...**

 **Water Prison..**

 **Earth Devil...**

 **Lightning Senbon...**

 _Ugh, is this all they've got?_

I groaned and shook my head. "Is this seriously it? Not even worth stealing anymore..." I trailed off.

Next was a list of seals.

First on the list was...

It's...this is...that's MY seal!

I stared at the circular seal, which could easily be mistaken for a flower, when it was indeed an eye. There was the familiar black circle incasing the darkly shaded eye, which was slitted just like how mine used to be.

 **Silencing Seal**

 **Similar to the Hyuuga's Caged Bird Seal, this makes the intended person unable to continue a certain action, and stops any thoughts lingering about the action. This effect makes the wearer entirely forget about said action, memories and all.** **This seal can only be placed with good intentions, and only someone with a greater chakra amount than the sealer can unseal it. To undo the seal, simply channel chakra into a hand laid over the sealing area and release as you would dispel a Genjutsu.**

I smiled. Channeling almost all of my chakra into my right hand, I placed it on the left side of my neck.

"Kai!" I waited...

Nothing.

"Aw... What happened?" _Damn it, my chakra is easily twice as large as the old man's! Why didn't it work?!_ I removed my hand and glared down at the written seal. My eyes widened. _Why didn't it work?_ I thought. That's it...

 _It's not the unsealing that's the problem, it's the seal itself! It says it's supposed to stop certain actions and all thoughts of doing it! It didn't stop any thoughts of mine, and it stopped me from doing everything I wanted! It's completely backwards!_

"That's it!" I smiled. _It's completely backwards! The seal on me must be painted on backwards! The seal on my neck and the seal on the scroll are completely different seals because the one on my neck is flipped backwards!_

 _Since the unsealing didn't work... that means that my seal is unknown and I... I can't..unseal it..._

"Naruto!"

I jumped. There above me stood Iruka-sensei, angry and out of breath. _Wha-? I didn't even feel him coming..._

"Naruto, w-what are you doing?! Did you really-" his eyes widened as he saw the large scroll in my hands, which I hastily pulled closed. I grinned bashfully. "Heh... Iruka-sensei, you found me! Now you have to pass me! I only had time to learn one jutsu though." I laughed and rubbed my neck.

 _I sound like such a fucking idiot, making it sound like it's a dumb game...damn it, I was so wrapped up in my seal, I forgot to look for my other one!_

"Naruto, do you know what you've done?!" Iruka asked, voice urgent.

 _Obviously._

"Of course! I borrowed this scroll here so I can pass my test Mizuki-sensei gave me, which _you_ never decided to give to me!" I yelled at him. Despite how stupid the outside of me is, I was glad for making that little tipoff.

Iruka blinked in realization. "Mizuki?..."

I felt Mizuki shunshin a few feet in front of us. Iruka and I turned to him as he chuckled darkly. "Well, Iruka. Looks like you made it here before me. You always did have a knack for locating the demon." he laughed. Iruka glared at him as I stared dumbly.

"Mizuki-sensei, what's going on?" I asked, stepping backwards. "Give me the scroll, boy." he sneered. Iruka ran in front of me. "Run, Naruto. Don't give him the scroll... no matter what."

I didn't move.

 _Kami damn it, just run and let Iruka handle it!_ "But...M-Mizuki-sensei? What's wrong?" I stuttered. I guess it was just the shock of hearing someone openly calling me a demon after so long.

"Its okay...I'll just have to kill you both. I'll be hailed as a hero for finally killing the demon brat, and _anyone_ who associates with it." he smiled, drawing some giant windmill blade from his back.

"Mizuki..." Iruka warned. Mizuki sneered at him and locked eyes with me.

"Do you want to know, boy, why everyone hates you so much? Why they treat you like they do, avoiding you like the plague?" he taunted.

He had me trapped there, mind and body.

All those beatings for all those years and I never knew, I just accepted the hostile feelings, and eventually returned them without much thought to the matter. That is, until they did something where I now had nothing left but time to think about it, and I thought deeply but still came up with nothing. Nothing that can account for the torture, the isolation, and the neglect that I received from the villagers for my entire life.

I wonder about it every day, and every night before I sleep. Every time I just gave up before starting again, every time hitting a dead end and just chalking it up to everyone in the village being terrible people with blackened souls and making everyone who isn't myself an enemy. Enemies who I smile for and hold my head up for and raise my voice for, but not because I'm waiting for them to strike, but because they disabled me so that all I can do is give them what I have: smiles too large to really be genuine, words so loud that some may finally read underneath everything I say, and actions so rash that some may finally look past them to see what they mean.

If he knew...

Mizuki smirked at my lost expression and at Iruka, who was frozen.

"That night, when the Kyuubi attacked...it killed hundreds of people. Villagers, shinobi, even the Yondaime Hokage!" Mizuki glared at me.

 _The mysterious Fourth Hokage that looks suspiciously like me...So much like me that it can't be a coincidence..._

"Only the people in Konoha who were old enough to remember that night, only they know the truth! The Yondaime didn't kill the demon Fox! He couldn't!"

I was entirely rooted to the ground where I stood, captured in the traitor's words.

 _He...he didn't kill Kyuubi? ...but..then that means...my second seal...?_

Mizuki's eyes glinted as he smiled insanely. "He couldn't kill it, so he sealed it into a child...he sealed it inside you! YOU are the KYUUBI NO KITSUNE!"

I flinched and hung my head, glaring down at my feet, Iruka's voice muting out. I'm such an idiot... He's..

 _...He's...that BASTARD! He just... HOW DARE HE ACCUSE ME OF BEING KYUUBI, JUST AFTER SAYING HIMSELF THAT THE BEAST IS SEALED?! I'LL SHRED HIM TO RIBBONS!_

I glared so hard at the grass between my feet, I wouldn't be surprised if it caught on fire. I started shaking in anger, although I bet Mizuki-traitor thought it was from fear. I was about to try and force my body with every sense of will I had, to go and mutilate Mizuki, but a shadow blurred in front of me followed by the sound of metal piercing flesh.

I looked up in time to see Iruka knocking into me, both of us falling to the ground. Over his shoulder I could make out the tip of Mizuki's windmill blade.

 _Did he just...take a hit for me? Nobody has ever..._

Iruka smiled down on me once again, blood trickling down the corner of his mouth. "Don't you ever listen to scum like him, Naruto. Everything he says is trash, because he's a liar. You do have a beast sealed inside of you, but that does not make you one. You... are NOT a monster, Naruto." He smiled at me. I can feel him trembling in pain, but he still seemed happy.

 _This is the nicest anyone has ever been to me... what is this? Why can't you hate me, Iruka?_

"Protecting the Kyuubi brat, Iruka? Such a shame to throw away your life for a worthless cause..." I heard Mizuki growl, his presence growing closer.

Iruka's smile slipped off his face and his eyes held a spark of anger that didn't quite reach his expression. His smoldering glare locked onto me. "You are not worthless..." he snarled. "Remember your dream, Naruto?" he asked, glancing to the side that Mizuki was coming at us from.

 _My dream? To violently backhand the Hokage by my own free will?_

I gasped aloud as his eyes locked onto mine, as if he knew what I really wanted, and not just the hyped up outbursts the defective seal made me say.

"If you want it...then run."

Iruka reached up and yanked the blade out of his back with a grunt, rolling to the side as I leapt up and into the trees.

 **_NARUTO_**

 _Dammit, Iruka! Keep me going on like this and you'll have me thinking that you know the real me..._

I kept all my chakra pushed down as I leaped from tree to tree, once again leaving just enough to attach the scroll. Putting some distance between myself and the fight behind me, I had to be the most confused child in the universe right about now.

 _What does this guy see in me? I don't understand...I might not be a monster, but I used to be. And that was my choice...I wanted to be like that. I...I still do..._

I exhaled sharply as I landed on a thick tree branch, and crouched down on all fours.

 _If it wasn't for this stupid seal, I could have taken the scroll and escaped this hell hole...and Iruka always has to stop me._

I heard the leaves rustle above me, causing me to stiffen, tightening my grip on the rough bark.

 _Damn...he just had to bring the fight to me..._

"...considering that I'm Iruka." I heard from above me. I quickly hopped back against the trunk and slid down the side silently, one hand straying to the scroll on my back. Two dark figures jumped down from above me and I sucked in my breath, hoping to remain unnoticed.

Only hearing muffled speech a few feet behind me, I peeked around the tree I was pressed against. Iruka was slumped against a clump of trees a few feet away, and Mizuki was quickly closing in, drawing a second windmill blade from his back.

I narrowed my eyes at the motion. I released my hold on the chakra holding the scroll and set the scroll down beside the tree.

 _Dammit Iruka! You and your idiotic caring making me care...you sure are making it hard for me to want to murder everyone!_

In a flash I had pulled out a kunai. Mirroring Mizuki's movements, I threw the kunai as he threw the blade at Iruka. My kunai intercepted his blade, going directly through the loop of the handle and pinning it to a nearby tree. In a blur I appeared between the two ninjas. My eyes glared into Mizuki's ugly face as Iruka silently watched from behind me.

Mizuki chuckled darkly. "What's this? Come to die like a good little demon? Heheh..."

"Keep your hands to yourself you traitorous bastard! **NO ONE** touches Iruka-sensei." I snarled.

Mizuki sneered at me. "So that's how it is then?" Iruka groaned behind me, and I turned my head to look at him.

"Naru...Naruto, n-no..." He gasped, his head bruised and blood steadily streaming from his mouth. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and flashed him a wide grin.

"Aw, trust me sensei! I told you that I learned a cool new jutsu from that scroll! What better time to prove myself as a ninja than to beat down this traitorous asswipe for hurting you...and besides..." I grinned.

"I've got to teach him...do not mess with _my_ sensei."

I turned back to Mizuki, my hands blurring upward into the tiger hand seal. "Shadow clone jutsu!"

Two plumes of smoke curled upward in front of me, and I could see two perfect copies of me, alive and breathing, copying my stance. A small detail I did notice was that each of them had a slight difference: one had a yellow stripe going around his pants leg instead of the blue that should have been there, the other had a dark purple stripe.

Mizuki laughed and gestured to the three of us- me?- them and I?- Yeah whatever...

He smiled smugly and shook his head. "What only two? Is that all that you could manage? Ha!" he laughed loudly. The clones in front of me twitched.

"I'm gonna kill him..." Yellow growled.

"Tch...what an asswipe..." Purple huffed.

I shook my head. _No argument there bud._

"Do you really think you could beat me with just two Kage Bunshin?"

All as one, the three of us grin ferally. (Maybe a little insanely, in Yellow's case.) "Kind of did, yeah." we said.

In the next second, the two bunshins dispersed themselves and over 1000 bunshins quickly replaced them, filling the surrounding area and trees with angry copies of me. I didn't see any differences in any of them or any color variations... perfect clones.

"Mizuki..." I smiled. "You should have learned to be more loyal..." My bunshins all made sounds of agreement as Mizuki stood frozen in their midst.

"This many clones... how...?" I heard Iruka mutter. "Do you want to know why?" I asked Mizuki. He didn't make a sound, still frozen. My smile twisted into a sneer.

"Because I absolutely _HATE_ TRAITORS!" we all roared. Each and every one of us pulled a kunai, and wave after wave of bunshins began attacking Mizuki. I stayed where I was to guard Iruka, a kunai in each hand. Every time a bunshin landed a hit on Mizuki it forcefully dispersed, bruising Mizuki more and sending me flashes of close ups of him getting slashed, sliced, punched, kicked, slapped...? Ok...

 _It seems like I've already figured out the hidden advantage to this jutsu... memory transfer from the clones?_

After a while the short jumbled images I received started showing a crumpled mess of unresponsive limbs. The clones kept on attacking the unconscious Mizuki though.

I frowned and stepped forward. "Okay, okay. I think we've beat him enough." I announced, and the remaining bunshins slowly stopped and turned to look at me.

Their blank stares were starting to irritate me. "Don't look at me like that! Sorry kids, but your toy is broken! Jeez..." I snapped. One of the nearby ones let out a sigh. "Ah, this is such a drag... I'm out. Guys, come on." he rolled his eyes and they all went up into plumes of smoke.

When the smoke cleared, the first two clones were the only ones there. Purple stood on one side of Mizuki's body, and Yellow on the other. Purple sharply kicked Mizuki upside his head with a bored expression. "Oh no, aw jeez, I'm _sooooooo sorry_..." he yawned. Yellow stood to the side pouting. "Aw...I wanted to kill this one..." he crossed his arms with a huff.

"Yeah, well maybe he'll try and escape the T&I department. You'll have your chance then, I guess." I said. They both shrugged and grabbed one of Mizuki's arms each and dragged him over to me. I turned around to where Iruka slumped against the trees.

He leaned heavily against the rough bark, smiling up at me through the layers of blood on his face. He looked at me proudly through tired eyes. "Great...wonderful job, Naruto. You are definitely...a worthy shinobi." he said, standing himself up. "Come here, Naruto...and close your eyes." he smiled. I obediently stepped closer, eyes shut tight.

After a couple seconds of darkness, I felt the coolness of metal against my forehead, and my spiky hair was pushed back.

I opened my eyes, bringing my hand to my head in amazement. I could feel it against my head, the cloth tied around my hair and the engraving in the metal head protector.

I looked up at Iruka with wide eyes and he smiled warmly. His hitai-ate was missing and I was pretty sure that it was tied around my head.

"Congratulations, Naruto! You pass."

 _I...I passed? Damn it, this idiot really does care for me..._

I yelled in delight, and tackled the poor injured man in a hug.

"Thank you Iruka-sensei! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't believe it! I'm a real ninja! Yes! Thank you so much!" I all but yelled into his ear. He patted my hair softly. "Your welcome, Naruto..." Iruka chuckled weakly, then collapsed in my arms.

As his eyes closed, my excited face melted into one of indifference. The overrated happiness drained from my crystal blue eyes, leaving them a sharp cold blue. The blank look was one worthy of the ROOT ANBU members, and it was the only expression I wanted when not being watched.

The reason that is so is because when I am around people -the villagers and the shinobi- all I can do is laugh unwillingly, and smile fakely, and generally be loud and obnoxious without any say at all. When there were no villagers, when I am alone...I have no emotions. I am unable to act as I want, so when there is nobody around to act for...I do not speak. I do not smile. When I am alone, I am at peace. When I am alone, what is the point of trying to smile if even if it actually works... its completely fake?

I blinked my eyes, tightening my grip on the unconscious Chuunin. I silently hoisted him back up and leaned him against the trees.

"Well that was a touching scene..." Purple scoffed.

"Tch... disgusting you mean. Horrifying to watch..." Yellow shuddered.

 _Almost alone, anyway. What the hell is with these two damn bunshin? Why won't you go away, dammit!_ I thought, turning to them.

"Oh...that was almost hurtful for a second." Purple scoffed.

"Uh, You do know we can hear you, right? And can you please quit calling us colors?" Yellow rolled his eyes.

 _Well damn. Learn something new every day._ My eyes lazed over the two unusual clones.

"'Damn' is our favorite word isn't it?" Purple asked.

"Definitely." Yellow nodded.

 _Damn right. It gives me the chance to say whatever the hell I want, and people can't take offence to it because I don't ever imply being directly rude to them. Its simply facts: you guys are two damn bunshin. Iruka is a damn caring idiot. Old man Hokage is a damn perverted liar. See? Facts._

"Besides all that anyway... we need to talk to you." Yellow stated seriously.

 _Oh wow, the insane Yellow striped clone wants to talk serious, what a day. I was thinking on calling you Bee, but I don't see that sticking anytime soon._

"Yeah, cause I'd rather you not." Yellow sneered.

"And what the hell do we need names for? We're just _two damn clones_." Purple raised his eyebrows, pushing his hands into the pockets of his shorts.

 _We all know that you two damn clones are not regular clones. Therefore you need names to acknowledge your significance from any other clones._

"Aw, we're special. How sweet." Purple yawned.

"Any idiot can figure out that we're not regular, you've proven that! What's so special about us I don't see." Yellow huffed. My fists curled and uncurled seemingly absentmindedly.

 _Well for starters, you clones haven't dispersed yet. Some alterations are there too, Yellow's bangs are longer and Purple's hair is brighter. Purple moves quieter and Yellow moves faster. I'm taller than you both but Yellow is a bit shorter than us, and both of you seem to have not noticed the stripes on your shorts._ I listed.

They both glanced down and Yellow smacked his hand against his face in exasperation. "And hence the color nicknames." Purple said.

 _Presicely. And there seems to be some personality problems from my perspective... Yellow seems a bit..._

"Insane?" Purple supplied. Yellow grinned.

 _I was gonna go with unstable but, eh. Insane works fine too. Purple, you're kind of laid back... Lazy? Uh, Nara -ish?_

"Relaxed, you mean."

 _Yeah, yeah. Sure. Point is, you two damn bunshin are total opposites and I've found names for you!_

Yellow sweatdropped, and Purple sighed.

 _Unstable over there is Yang, and the lazy bum is Yin._

"Dark and Light. Hm." Purple mused. I mean... Yin.

"I like it! Evil and Not-so-Evil! Perfect!" Yang cheered.

 _Don't get all happy about it, little boy. We've still got problems. And by we, I mean you two._

"Who the hell are you talking to? I'm not little!" Yang growled, raising his fist.

 _Well I am taller than you both._

"But we're the same age..." Yin cut in.

 _You guys are like, twenty minutes old._

"Gr! The clone thing doesn't count in this situation!" Yang hissed.

"Actually, it does." Yin shrugged.

"WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON?!" Yang raged.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE YELLING AT YOU DAMN MIDGET?!" Yin blazed back.

"WHY YOU-"

Both clones yelped in pain as I brought down a fist onto each of their heads. _Shut...up..._

"Itai..." they both whimpered.

 _See what I mean? Earlier the clones beating Mizuki dispelled every time they hit him. They can barely withstand hitting something, yet you can withstand direct hits. It doesn't add up! And along with the fact that you two seem not to have the Silencing seal on you like I do, like you should...hey, wait a second! My seal!_

Both clones looked up from their pain. "Huh?"

 _My seal! I hit you!_

"Yeah. We can tell that you hit us." Yin snapped.

 _No, I mean that I can hit you! So far the seal has been fine, not working against you because you two are bunshin. But...I wanted to stop you from arguing! I was able to hit you! Did... did the unsealing actually work?!_

"Oh. Oh, you mean _that!_ Definitely not." Yin shook his head.

"I told you we needed a talk, did you think I didn't mean serious when I said it, genius?" Yang said. "I don't know about you, but I'm sure at least something snapped back there with Mizuki-traitor."

"You know, for an undiscovered prodigy/genius, you sure are pretty stupid." Yin observed.

 _Ah, shut up. I hadn't realized it until now but...tonight has been different. Ever since Iruka took that hit for me, I've been doing things...I hit you guys... I actually spoke to Mizuki..._

 ** _"I ABSOLUTELY HATE TRAITORS!"_**

 _I guarded Iruka... And I stopped Mizuki from killing him..._

 ** _"Keep your hands to yourself you traitorous bastard! NO ONE touches Iruka- sensei."_**

 _What?... How did he do this?_

"Yeah... This ain't just some Chuunin, huh?"

"It said you need more chakra than the Hokage to get rid of that seal, and it seems that he does...but it isn't gone yet. He just cracked it." Yin glanced down to the unconscious teacher.

 _It...it cracked?_

"Yeah!" Yang said, leaning close to my still form, my eyes following his movements. "You know how it usually looks like an eye? Now the part of the eye that would be blue has this shattered glass look, like somebody hit it really hard...Funny..I don't see a bruise..." He leaned away.

 _That's because nobody hit me._

"Well I guess you could say the shock of Iruka caring about you _did_ hit you... Like a ton of bricks." Yin snickered.

 _Oh, ha ha. Okay, so the seal has cracked. What does it mean? Can I be myself now? Why aren't my movements completely controlled? I can't speak when I want, can I?_

"Don't know, no, don't know, and I guess? We'll have to find out." Yang listed.

"But what we do know..." Yin said.

 _-Is that the seal is wearing down._

"And that Iruka has somehow unsealed your actions, no matter how little control you have. There is no way you are leaving the village until we figure out exactly how he did it." Yang narrowed his eyes at the ninja who was slowly bleeding out.

 _Well then, for starters... Yang, you go to his house. See if you can find anything unusual about this guy. Yin, you go break into the shinobi library and read up on his history. I want to know everything from failed missions, as to why he's a teacher, and even if his triple great grandfather's family broke off from a clan._

Yin and Yang glanced at each other before turning to me giving loud complaints.

"Why the hell do _I_ have to go to the library?!"

"I don't want to go to his house, this guy's probably got _**diseases**_ all over his house!"

 _I don't give a damn even if he has a **sex slave** in his house!_

"See! That's one of the probabilities that makes me want to go there _even more!_ Not the damn library! Let's switch..." Yin whined. We both stared at him, me with a blank look, and Yang shook his head in disappointment.

"What? There had to be a pervert between the three of us, you knew it was coming!" He defended, crossing his arms in a huff.

 _Never mind all that, there's a reason I picked those tasks for you guy's. Yang, you're the fastest, so you can get in and out of his house before anyone can come to investigate. Yin, you're practically silent, and I know you can break in without getting noticed. While you two investigate this guy, I can turn in these two in to the Hokage and he can cover up everything and take me out of the records... mostly._

"That's...not...bad, actually..." Yin pouted.

 _Then what are you still doing here then, damn it? Stay out of sight, don't get caught._

"Yeah, yeah..." Yang muttered, then disappeared. Yin lingered for a second longer, saying, "We're not supposed to stay like this so after this is done, you shouldn't see us anymore."

 _You're making it sound like an affair._

Yin looked at me weirdly before continuing. "No, seriously. We're not gonna show up the next few times around."

 _Oh, and to think I wasted two perfectly good names on you... Bye then._

Yin raised his hand in a two fingered salute, and dashed away in a burst of speed.

My eyes finally settled into a half-lidded state as I surveyed my surroundings a final time: Mizuki unconscious and bleeding at my feet, and Iruka passed out and bleeding by my side.

I bent down in front of Iruka, leaning forward on my toes to get a closer look at him. There...

 _I knew there was something wrong with you..._

There...under the open Chuunin vest and slashed open long sleeved undershirt...

Neatly painted on his collarbone in dark sealing ink was the seal.

My seal.

 _What could have you done to get the same punishment I have? What have you done Iruka?_

I bent down and silently picked up Iruka, and started my walk out of the forest, dragging Mizuki behind me.

 _Now I'm definitely staying in this damn village... there's no way in hell that I am leaving this guy alone...now I am really going to slap the Hokage. Doubly so for this guy. I can imagine how miserable he must be..._

The Hokage must be more stupid than I thought. To paint the same seal twice...

And not notice that he's done both backwards.


	5. 2: Life On The Inside- 3

**Ohayo, minna! Enjoy! :)**

* * *

 **Arc 2**

 **When Our Tails Are Tied- Part Two: Life On The Inside-**

 **Section 3**

* * *

Team Seven. Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and one Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto smiled like the idiot he wasn't, and Sakura fawned like the fangirl she was. Kakashi raised an eyebrow as Sasuke finished his introduction. "...Okay...Now then, Blondie?" Kakashi said.

 _Oh, this is too troublesome... Why can't I be on a team like Kiba's? Or be like Yin or something,_ Naruto thought in despair.

Naruto grinned in apparent excitement, repeatedly fiddling with his metal headband.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to be Hokage!" he yelled happily...not. "I'm going to become Hokage so people will finally stop looking down on me and start to acknowledge me as a person! I'll be super powerful, and this time there's nothing that anyone can do about it! Beleive it!" he grinned.

Kakashi Hatake sweatdropped at the loud Genin, and sighed softly. "Uh, hobbies? Likes and dislikes?"

"Oh...um yeah! I like ramen, I like eating ramen, uh...I like being with Iruka-sensei ...um, hobbies?... Uh, training, I guess? I dislike the three minutes you have to wait for ramen to cook, reading, a certain idiot, and Sasuke-teme," Naruto cheered inwardly as he saw the emo Sasuke Uchiha twitch slightly at the insult. Naruto posed in a overly thoughtful position. "I feel like I'm forgetting something...oh, yeah! I absolutely HATE **TRAITORS!** " He roared, with flames in his eyes.

The other two males of the newly formed Team 7 sighed at their hyperactive blonde teammate, while the pink head Sakura Haruno simply seethed silently.

Naruto nearly cried waterfalls, he absolutely hated this team Iruka gave him. This is cruel and unusual punishment for nothing... He had to go through his whole career with these...these...

 _Damn it, I can't call them insane cause I am too!_

"I expect you guy's to be at training ground 7 bright and early tomorrow. Don't be late!" Kakashi smiled through his mask.

 _You should talk,_ Naruto thought.

"Oh...And I almost forgot. I highly suggest that you don't eat breakfast. You'll puke." he stated blandly, before raising his hand with a supposed smile. "Ja ne!" The weird man then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"...I'm going home." Sasuke stated blandly, and stood up. Sakura quickly clambered up after him.

"Oh, maybe we could stop for something to eat before you go... It'll be our first date!" she squealed with hearts in her eyes. Naruto wanted to be violently sick... _or_ violently bash his head open on the rooftop tiles.

Sasuke stared at her for a couple of seconds before narrowing his dark eyes. "...No." he deadpanned.

Naruto's mask slipped for a second, displaying an amused smirk at the deflated girl.

 _Ha! You call yourself a kunoichi? You look like a kicked puppy! You better get a good grip on reality, cause this guy's about to drop kick you right off the edge! Ha!_

Sasuke eyed his teammates one more time, narrowing his eyes as Naruto's face quickly flickered between multiple emotions. Sasuke glared silently at them both and dropped of the edge of the roof, retreating to who knows where to brood in silence.

"You know, Sakura-chan," Naruto suggested happily, enduring the terrible pain it took to hear those words come out of his own mouth, "we can go get something to eat together to build up our teamwork!" he smiled dumbly.

Sakura turned her nose up in a huff. "No way! I'd rather _die_ first!" she sneered and walked away, heading back to the safety of the stairs .

 _Whore...At least she'd die anyway..._

Naruto wished he could shed the orange monstrosity that was part of his unwanted persona, and rip it into hideous orange confetti. Naruto walked to the opposite side of the building and slid down the wall into a dark alley.

 _Irritating, useless...grrr...infuriating piece of shit... I'll kill him..._

First the Hokage lets him get beaten to the point of insanity, then he takes away Naruto's free will to do anything but fake a smile... And now he's gone and made him a part of what's got to be the most useless team in history!

 _ **How does he expect us to survive with such a messed up team?** A revenge driven emo, a psycho-sadist fangirl of the emo's, a mental veteran Cyclops, and an insane powerhouse demon with a defective seal? How does he ever expect it to work?! I-I...hate this! I can't take this, acting like I'm perfectly fine around these people, acting all happy and everything... **I hate Konoha!**_

 _ **...how can you do it, Naruto? Are you done yet?** How have I not . **..killed them?** I don't want to do this...the seal is stopping me but...how have I.._

 _ **-Not killed yourself?** How?_

 _ **The thought is always in our mind...If you would allow me to help you...never again will it cross your mind. Nobody will ever bother us... ever again..**. Ever again?_

A dark chuckle escaped Naruto's lips, but it was not his own. "All you have to do is say... **YeS**..." Naruto winced in pain as an insane smile twitched on his face, and the scars on his face burned more than ever. That pain shook him out of an unknown haze, and a part of him cursed to itself.

 _What is this? Who..w-where are you?_

 _ **Dammit boy! I almost had you...**_

 _Dear Kami...I really am insane._

Naruto steadied himself against the brick wall of the small alley and his hand made it's way to his hair.

 _ **You're damn right you are, brat! I AM THE ALMIGHTY KYUUBI NO KITSUNE! Insanity is my SPECIALTY! And watching you're miserable life is the best show I've seen in eons! HAHAHAHA!**_

 _...um..._

 _ **The fear has made you speechless I see, AHAHAHAHA! Don't worry, this terrifying power will be trying to take over your body only every minute of your life! HAHAHAHAHA! You'll give in eventually!**_

 _.. Don't worry about me, you ignorant ball of fluff! You're just another voice in my head that is getting pushed to the back of my mind..._

 ** _WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME YOU INSUFFERABLE BRAT?! I'LL RIP YOU TO SHREDS YOU-_**

 _And...mute. Goodbye, Mr. Fluffy. That was some ego..._

Naruto shook his head and pushed off from the alley wall. He quickly exited the alley, because he had some preparing to do.

 _ **_NARUTO_**_

Naruto watched quietly from the shade in the trees, his eyes going from left to right and again, following the lazy flick of the cat's tail.

The Genin team below him were not aware of him being there, and Naruto was fine with just that.

Shikamaru Nara sighed softly, a faint blush dusting his irritated face. "...Its not funny, Ino." he snapped, glaring at the giggling girl beside him.

The cat's tail flicked across his forehead again, and he glared at it lividly as it passed over his eyes before curling back up on top of the boys head to join the rest of the purring cat. Tora the demon cat lay purring in absolute contempt on the head of the lazy genius, one of her paws wrapped happily around his spiky ponytail.

"Choji... make it get off of me. Please..." he scowled.

Choji smirked, slipping his bag of potato chips back into his pocket. "I dunno Shikamaru... I think she's in love."

Ino snorted into her hand. Shikamaru huffed in annoyance from his seat on the ground, crossing his arms at his teammates who stood over him. "Its _not_ funny!"

"Maybe this'll teach you not to fall asleep on the job!" Ino laughed. "We were chasing that cat all day and you fell asleep at your post. This is about our millionth time doing this mission. We spent all that time trying to send her your way to get her in your trap, and we were actually kind of hoping she would scratch your face off while you slept." she smirked.

"Well I guess she likes you because you're the only ninja who won't chase her." Choji supplied.

"For the last time, it's-"

"Too troublesome." Ino and Choji chorused. "Yeah, we know."

"Will someone _please_...GET THIS CAT OFF MY HEAD?!" Shikamaru raged.

"Nope." "Definitely not. This is too priceless."

Shikamaru took a long, slow breath. "...Okay..." he closed his eyes. His eyes snapped open, and locked onto the trees above. "If you would please...Naruto?" he asked semi-calmly.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as the other Team 10 members finally made notice of him.

Ino frowned. "The baka?"

Naruto jumped down from his perch in the trees, forcing himself to not look at Choji or Ino. He landed directly in front of the sitting ninja, crouched low. "I couldn't even sense him..." Choji muttered.

Shikamaru sighed in relief, and locked eyes with Naruto. "Get. Rid of it. _Please._ "

Naruto nodded, and exhaled slowly. Ino and Choji held their breath as Naruto reached out a tentative hand to the demon cat.

Tora stopped purring, and glared down the newcomer. There was no way was she ever moving from her newfound place on the nice smelling boy. Tora hissed loudly at the blonde, who snatched his hand back. Naruto's pupils grew larger as he bared his teeth at the cat in anger.

Naruto's clawed fingers snatched the not so innocent cat off of Shika's head, and threw it at Choji. Choji was prepared, and caught the angry furball in a net of ninja wire. Choji hurriedly tied the ends of the net together, and snatched his hands away.

Naruto stood, and him and Shikamaru sent each other silent understandings.

"I hate cats..." Naruto muttered, and jumped up into the trees again.

Shikamaru sighed softly in relief, thank Kami that insane cat was not going to use his head as a pillow.

"What the hell was that?!" Ino screeched, and the short silence was broken.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her. "That...was Naruto."

Choji snorted. "No duh, genius."

Ino turned red. "No, I mean why was he here! Where is the rest of his team? How come we couldn't sense that idiot!?" Shikamaru got to his feet, dusting off his pants legs. "His team has the day off. Besides, what makes you so sure that he's an idiot?"

"What makes you so sure that he isn't?" Ino snapped.

Shikamaru tilted his head thoughtfully. "Because... I know him."

"Yeah, everyone knows him. Loudmouth, wears orange, stamina freak with no parents, we all went to school with him. Remember?" Choji cut in. Shikamaru's eyes hardened. "I _do_ know him. More than anyone else in the village even, because I actually stopped to try and get to know him."

Ino looked incredulous. "So you're actually _friends_ with that baka?!"

He huffed in annoyance. "N-Not exactly... More like we tolerate each other, because I stopped to watch what he does sometimes... and everything he does, it's all so... unnatural..."

"What you mean _unnatural?"_

Shikamaru looked put out for a second before he huffed again. "I...I don't know exactly..."

Ino smirked. "So then you _don't_ know him. _'More than anyone in the village'_ , yeah right..." she scoffed.

Shikamaru bristled. "You think you know him well enough then, huh?"

Ino crossed her arms. "Yeah. I mean, I spent _how many years_ in the same class as him? So yes, pretty well enough, I think." She smirked.

"Oh yeah? What's his favorite color?" he challenged. "Orange." she answered without hesitation.

"Wrong!" he barked. Ino opened her mouth, but he cut her off. "Its blue, the same color as his eyes. He'd sit and stare at the sky longer than I would! How old is he?"

"The same as us, twelve." she snapped.

"Wrong! He's _fourteen_ , he's failed the exam three times. When's his _birthday,_ Ino?" Shikamaru glared.

Ino opened her mouth, then closed it again with a frown. Shikamaru shook his head.

"Its October 10th." he stated. Shikamaru gazed sadly at his two teammates. "This mission is over... I'm going home. You guys are pretty sick, y'know..."

Shikamaru turned and started making his way out of the forest. He paused after a few steps, turning his head. He glared at Ino from the corner of his eye.

"Oh... but you've been in the same class... for how many years?" he mocked.

 ** __NARUTO__**

Cold black eyes glared into a pair of icy blue ones from across the room. The blue eyes held not one ounce of emotion as they stared blankly back.

Sasuke glared at his weird orange wearing comrade. Just a while ago they were both downstairs eating dinner with the bridge builder's family, and Naruto was acting as idiotic as usual. Sasuke had barely noticed it, but as the two climbed up the staircase to their (begrudgingly) shared room, Naruto had gotten quieter.

His loudly exclaimed epiphanies of ramen faded into silence, his smile slipped a bit, and even his stomping on the hard wooden stairs switched into him softly padding to the room. Maybe he was finally getting tired... Thank Kami for that.

Sasuke had immediately gone to his futon on one side of the room, and Naruto (gracefully) faceplanted onto his own. Sasuke dragged his futon out of the middle of the floor and over to the wall where the moonlight reached.

Sasuke pulled off his blue shirt to reveal a white tank underneath. Across the room, Naruto yawned and pushed himself onto his back so he wasn't laying flat on his face. Sasuke payed him no attention, and sat with his back pressed against the wall behind him.

The full moon was displayed beautifully through the open window on the other boy's side of the room, flanked by an amazing showcase of shining stars. Sasuke gazed absentmindedly outside the window, the bright moon and cool air filling his senses. He could hear the sounds of night grow louder, and the soft breathing of himself and his roommate.

After a long while, something began to bother Sasuke. It was subtle, but something was definitely different, and making his instinct to pull a kunai fire up. Sasuke snapped out of his daze, and then he noticed it.

Naruto was not asleep after all.

Naruto's bright blue eyes almost glowed in the moonlight, blankly staring at the Uchiha from across the dark room. He lay on his back, head hung limply to the side.

Sasuke immediately bristled. What was this creep doing, just staring at him like that? "What's your problem, dobe?" he snapped. Naruto didn't move, he didn't even blink. This angered Sasuke even further.

"What kind of creep are you, watching people in the middle of the night?! What's your problem, huh?" he growled. Naruto didn't respond, continuing to stare at Sasuke with a cold, dead look in his eyes.

Sasuke's glare lessened a bit, and Naruto continued to watch him, unblinking.

Sasuke leaned forward, looking closer at the boy. Maybe he was dead...? Sasuke inwardly cringed at the thought as his emotions torward the problem changed. Maybe he should check on him...

Sasuke crawled forward out of his futon and towards the unresponsive blonde. Now only a few feet away from him, Sasuke saw Naruto's blue eyes flick upward, staring at him moving closer. Sasuke's irritation raged forward again.

"Hey, Dobe! Answer when people are talking to you!" he growled. Naruto looked up at him silently.

Sasuke's irritation met its peak, and he snapped out a hand to hit Naruto on his forehead. Before his hand reached it's target however, Naruto's hand reached up and blocked it.

Naruto's eyes flashed a mean red in the darkness and Sasuke faltered, his wrist screaming in protest to the death grip Naruto suddenly had around it. Naruto's red eyes flashed again, and to Sasuke's horror, his air supply was abruptly cut off. Sasuke's vision went black, then was engulfed in red.

His head now pounding, Sasuke sucked in huge amounts of air, blinking the brightness out of his eyes. As it cleared, he noticed that Naruto was gone. The room was empty, the window still wide open. He was alone.

Sasuke raised his shaking hand, blood streaming from large claw marks cut into his pale flesh. Sasuke's other hand found its way to his throat, where he could already feel a bruise forming around it.

Seeing his own blood in such amounts brought up bad memories, and Sasuke felt nauseated. Couple that up with his sudden splitting headache, and you've got one choked up Uchiha. Sasuke's vision blurred way past normal standards, but not blinding him. The sudden loss of vision startled the boy, who reeled backwards and lost his balance.

Just as he was about to make contact with the floor, a wave of coldness rushed up past Sasuke's body- what was that, water?- and completely engulfed him.

Darkness surrounded the terrified boy, who couldn't even tell if his eyes were open anymore... No... No, they were still open. Sasuke floated without gravity in the darkness, eyes wide in terror.

 _ **W-Why can't I move?,**_ Sasuke's thoughts echoed in the void. Sasuke screwed his eyes shut. _ **I...can't breath!**_

A quiet chuckle echoed all around him, and Sasuke snapped his eyes open.

 _ **N-Naruto!**_

A few feet away from Sasuke floated Naruto. Naruto looked at Sasuke with a slightly amused expression, slitted red iridescent eyes alight with fascination. Sasuke couldn't speak, but tried to get his message out through his eyes. _**Please...**_

The blonde tilted his head to the side, as if he could really hear him. Then, somehow, Naruto spoke clearly underneath the water.

 **"Oh, how wonderful. I haven't seen an Uchiha in ages... Sweet, sweet revenge. This is perfect..."** Naruto started to laugh, and Sasuke just about wanted to strangle him. Now was not the time for... Whatever the blonde was doing.

Naruto squinted his eyes playfully at the Uchiha. **"Hey..."** he frowned mockingly. **"Can you... Breath? Like, at all?"** Naruto's face broke into an insane smile. **"No?"**

Sasuke closed his eyes again. What type of twisted genjutsu could this possibly be? No way could this possibly be real... Nope. Nope. Nope.

 _"Hey!"_

Sasuke reopened his eyes by pure reflex, and saw complete darkness. Where did that creepy Naruto go? Sasuke realized that he could move again, precious oxygen returning to him. How the hell had he not passed out a while ago?

 _"Hey, hey! What the hell are you doing, you damn idiot!?"_

Sasuke whirled around in the mass of air, somehow still floating. Naruto stood a few feet away, just like before. Only this Naruto looked different. Sure he had the blonde hair and (thankfully, Sasuke noted) blue eyes, but the eyes were slit like the others, and he didn't seem as insane.

Naruto growled in anger. _"Damn Uchiha brat! Get the hell out of my head! How dare you lure him out, do y'know how long it took to push that bastard back into his emo corner, you egotistical, psycotic- wait, how'd you get in here?"_

Sasuke gaped at the blonde. "You're not Naruto." he said. The blonde scoffed. _"No... Your Naruto is not Naruto."_ he said smartly.

Sasuke was at a loss for words. Almost. "W-Wait a second! Why are you acting like a complete-"

 _"Psychopath? Yeah, its best that you don't find out." Naruto shrugged. "As for you, you should get out to the real world. I know for a fact that I can't leave, so I'm kicking you out lest you be stuck here to piss me off forever. Ja ne!"_

Sasuke shook his head, holding up his arms. "Hold on... Where are we? Get stuck where?"

Naruto groaned, the sound echoing as he facepalmed. _"Does it matter? Kami, you ask a lot of questions. You really don't need to know. Now you need to leave."_

"I can't leave! I don't even know how I got here! We need to find our way out together."

Naruto gave a dry laugh. _"I've been here almost forever. If its one thing I learned, I ain't gettin' out of here any sooner, even with your help."_

Naruto looked around the room as if sensing something. Sasuke saw nothing. Naruto sighed, muttering things Sasuke couldn't make out.

 _"Sasuke."_ Naruto's tone demanded Sasuke's attention. _"Look, Its almost daylight. I've got three things to tell you, and you better listen well cause I don't have enough time to repeat anything. Ok?"_

Sasuke nodded, still confused.

 _"One, don't you ever tell anyone about this. Not our baka-sensei, not the Hokage, don't even tell your reflection, because I will find out, and it won't be pretty. Two, on the outside, the real world, or whatever the hell you want to call it-"_

Sasuke's frustration grew. What was he talking about?

 _"- if you see me with red eyes like the one you met before, under any circumstances, in any and all situations- RUN. If you stay, it is more than likely that you will die."_ Naruto huffed, crossing his arms. _"You got that down, Uchiha?"_

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose, his headache spiking in pain. "What.. What was the third thing?"

Naruto flashed him a grin. _"Don't let Kakashi know about those eyes you've got there."_ And with that, Naruto flashed forward and gave the Uchiha a push, sending him sprawling backwards into the nothingness.

Sasuke awoke with a gasp and a muffled cry of surprise, eyes moving wildly around but not seeing. Panic rose up in the boy, his vision was gone, still as unfocused as when he first got that headache.

Sasuke started breathing heavily. His arms found each other as he used one to find the other injured one. Sasuke felt his pale hands move shakily to inspect his arms.

No claw marks... No blood.

Sasuke hissed quietly in pain, his brain feeling like it was being stabbed from multiple angles with a giant sword. The pain intensified as Sasuke was engulfed in an excruciating white light and then-

The pain dulled. The white went away. Sasuke let out a relieved huff of awe as he saw everything at once.

He was back in the bridge builder's house, the soft light of dawn filtering in through the still open window. The wind was barely blowing, but Sasuke saw the dust in the air moving as if it were in a hurricane. Even through all of that, Sasuke could see out of the window, beyond it even. The trees outside were dancing in the morning breeze, and he could see each and every leaf moving in sync, some tearing away and into the breeze where he could still see it.

Sasuke made an unintelligible sound in the back of his throat, and he launched himself out of his futon to his pack on the other side of the room.

His pale hands trembled as he fumbled with the clasps on the pouches, forgetting the fact that he should be injured. Finally getting the pouch open, Sasuke quickly reached his hand inside, his hand wrapping around the ice cold metal.

He pulled out a kunai, his eyes narrowing slightly as it glinted in the pale light. The boys reflection in the blade looked just as amazed as he did.

The Uchiha Prince smirked in victory, then looked crestfallen. Instead of his usual obsidian black orbs, the blade reflected a blood red iris, with two black tomoes around each pupil. The Sharingan.

 _ **_NARUTO_**_

Naruto could see his own breath frosting in front of his nose as he stood back to back with Sasuke.

 _Dammit! Typical for this to happen the first time I leave the village..._

Naruto held two kunai blades at the ready, narrowed eyes trying to track the enemy. Sasuke's pale white hands were held up, ready to make any necessary hand seals and his newly awakened dojutsu activated, watching for possible movement.

They waited with bated breath until finally-

"There!" Sasuke flipped through hand seals, and produced a huge ball of fire aimed towards the enemy. Naruto brought up his weapon to block a barrage of senbon aimed for his jugular. Sasuke hissed in pain as a few senbon pierced his chest.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw the upcoming attack, and before he knew it, he dashed forward-

Naruto let out an undiluted cry of rage, as Sasuke hunched over in pain.

"Really, teme?! Why _the hell_ would you do that!" Naruto screeched, catching the Uchiha before he fell.

 _Damn it...Yet another person who took the blow for me..._

Sasuke ground his teeth together in a pained grimace. "S-Shut up and f-fight, dobe..." he growled, the red of his eyes draining away to the black of before.

Naruto could feel his six scars burning as if they wanted to melt his face off as his anger grew to a dangerously high standpoint.

Sasuke shuddered. His eyes scrunched up as if he were confused. "R-Red eyes..." he breathed.

And it was in that one moment that the world went black for the both of them.

 _ **_NARUTO_**_

Sakura sweatdropped as Sasuke and Naruto glared at each other with enough force to crush mountains.

"Uh... Kakashi-sensei...s-should we do something about these two?.." she asked uncertainly.

Kakashi, who had just arrived, smiled behind his book with an almost undetectable twitch. "~Maa. They'll be fine. A little rivalry is healthy for them both." he chuckled nervously. Dear Kami, they were gonna kill each other... Its best for him to leave while he can.

Kakashi snapped his Icha closed with a smile, gaining his three student's attention. "You know what... I forgot. I've got someplace to be right about now, so... our missions are canceled today!" he said cheerfully.

The three genin stared him down with a deadpan look.

Kakashi started sweating bullets. "I've also just realized that I really need to leave right now. Don't want to be late, heh heh..." he laughed awkwardly.

Before his blonde student had even begun to scream at him for being a liar, he had already shunshined away.

 _Dammit! You damn perverted hermit!_

Naruto started on his angry unheard rant, but stopped when it came to his attention that the rest of his team had dissapeared in that short amount of time, leaving him completely alone.

 _Ah, well that's just mean of them. The emo avoiding being alone with me because I scared him shitless, and his little flower following behind. How fucking pathetic... Ah, well._ Might as well go and see Iruka.

Naruto sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets, turning briskly and walking in the direction of the Academy.

 _I wonder what he did to get that seal on him? Either he turned traitor or..._

Naruto rounded a corner, subconsciously making no noise in his efforts. _Nah. He's just a Chuunin, probably overheard something he wasn't supposed to, and they caught him... Or maybe he heard something he didn't like, and tried to defect?_

Naruto frowned, and continued down the completely empty sidewalk shortcut that wasn't used much. He, of course, used the shortcut quite frequently when escaping the drunken villagers. He drummed his fingers against his left leg through his pants pocket.

 _...And of course the only way to really get to this guy would be to expel a lot of chakra. I could send out my chakra until I shatter his seal, Or I could just piss him off to the point where he demolishes it himself..._

Naruto froze in the middle of the street, cutting his thoughts short. He was getting the feeling that he was being followed, because the seal had slowly activated, sending small smiles twitching onto his face. The closest proximity that they could be to have the seal reacting to such an amount, would be...

Directly behind him.

Naruto whirled around with an angry face.

"HEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU- huh?" his yell was cut short as the stupidity of the situation struck him head on.

 _Ugh. Konohamaru... Your stupidity never ceases to amaze me._

Apparently the seal decided to slip right then, y'know, just for kicks. Before he could stop himself, Naruto said with a deadpan expression, "Who the hell do you think would fall for that, there aren't any giant cubed boulders anywhere in this village you dimwit."

The painted cardboard box at his feet shuffled a bit, before it went up in a blast of smoke. Naruto frowned, but watched with and amused glint in his eyes as three kids exited the smoke, coughing and gasping for oxygen.

"Oh, I think we used too much gunpowder..." the girl groaned.

Naruto looked down on them. "Uh...what are you doing, Ko?"

The three kids jumped. Konohamaru looked up with a surprised look. "Ah! Boss!"

Ko grinned up at him, the girl looked at him in suspicion, and the other boy wiped at his nose. Konohamaru's grin grew even bigger. "Did you see what we did earlier, huh boss? I betcha didn't even see us coming!"

 _Well I can say that it was an unexpected surprise... Besides-_ "-it needs work."

Naruto wanted to slap a hand over his mouth. He couldn't afford to let the seal act up at all around Konohamaru, he might go back and tell the old man Hokage that something was up, and he'd be done for.

Ko blinked, before continuing to smile. He turned to the other two kids. "You hear that guys? Boss says we're making progress!"

Naruto sighed in relief. Thank Kami for reality's natural filter: optimism.

"Who are you guys anyway?" Naruto asked.

The girl pushed Konohamaru to the side roughly, and he sent her a withering glare. "I'm Moegi..." she batted her eyelashes. "I'm the prettiest, most deadly-est kunoichi in all of Konoha!" she smiled, flashing a peace sign. This sparked something in Naruto. He had to admit, that was kind of adorable.

His eyes drifted past the girl, where Ko was making a large 'X' with both his arms, shaking his head rapidly. The other boy was holding up a huge sign that said _"Don't fall for it, She's evil incarnate"_. Naruto sweatdropped.

By the time she had turned around, Ko was whistling with his arms behind his head, and the other boy was looking down at his shoes with sudden amazement.

Naruto gestured to the other boy. "What about you?"

The boy looked surprised before speaking in a stuffy voice. "Oh... I'm Udon. I'm smart." he used his sleeve to wipe his runny nose.

 _...That's it? Points for...originality, I guess?_ Naruto laughed awkwardly. "Is that so?"

Konohamaru shoved his way back to the front. "So, boss? Now that you've seen what we can do, can you 'play ninja' with us now? You promised us that you would!" he pleaded with large eyes.

 _Well, at least I got him to start acting like it was a game around others... I don't want anyone hurting him if they knew I was the one training him..._

"A ninja playing ninja? How childish can you get Naruto?"

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin. "WHEN THE HELL DID **YOU** GET HERE?!"

Sakura bristled. "You shouldn't swear in front of a lady! Baka!"

Konohamaru glared at her. Naruto dropped his head with an uncertain laugh. "Ano, you're right Sakura-chan..." _I'm so sorry Moegi-chan. Please forgive me for swearing in your presence._

"Hey, hey boss..." Ko staged whispered. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Is she your...y'know?" Ko held out his pinky finger.

Naruto recoiled as if he had been burned. He wanted to throw up. No no no no no no no no no no no no no...

Naruto rapidly shook his head, eyes wide. "Nuh uh, no, nope, NO. **NO.** "

Konohamaru sighed in relief. "Oh, okay. That's good..." he started whispering again. "Because her forehead... is _gigantic_.."

Naruto held back a laugh. _Oh you poor child... Rest in pieces._

The humor was short lived as Sakura rounded on him instead. "NARUTO! You're dead!"

 _WHAT THE HELL DID I DO?!_

Sakura then proceeded to pummel him into the ground. Naruto curled up in a way that would protect his organs and his manhood, quite used to this already. Moegi and Udon stood back, not knowing what to do. Konohamaru though, he stepped forward. "Hey! You better leave him alone! I can see why Boss doesn't like you now, and it doesn't help that you're already butt ugly!" he yelled.

Sakura froze mid-punch, and Naruto took that time to warn his fellow comrade. "Ko... _Run!_ " he gasped, trying to catch his breath.

By the time he looked up, Ko had already hightailed it out of there, with Sakura right on his heels. Moegi and Udon chased after them both, yelling at their friend to run faster.

Naruto gathered his wits and jumped to his feet, ready to run after them all, but froze as an unknown heat washed over him. It traveled all over, sending a hot feeling of fire trailing through all of his whiskers, and it shot a bad feeling down his spine. Naruto gave a full body shiver and pitched forward.

 _...I don't know what that was... But I have to get to Konohamaru.. And quick. Something..._

"...Something's about to happen." Naruto realized. He took off after the kids in a frantic burst of speed.

* * *

 **End Of Arc 2**

 **Hey guys, K. Cipher here. Just wanted to say that I will not have the next arc out for... ahem... quite some time, because I want to have the complete thing for you guys. Don't kill me... BUT!** **yes, BUT, The Next arc will just be a two part arc, so I doubt you'll have long to wait. :) That is, unless Writers Block creeps up behind me and puts me in a headlock.**

 **Fell free to leave a review, point out all my mistakes and the likes. Honestly don't care if you flame, more comedy for me!**


	6. 3: Look At Me- 1

**Ohayo, minna! Enjoy! :)**

* * *

 **Arc 3**

 **When Our Tails Are Tied- Part Three: Look At Me-**

 **Section 1**

* * *

Konohamaru had never had a reason to run so fast in his life.

Only one thought was going through his head as he ran from what would be the most terrifying thing he had ever seen in his short life:

I now understand why Boss puts us through such torturous training regimes, for which I am now very thankful for.

Ko screamed in terror as Sakura chased him down in a cloud of pure rage. Moegi and Udon ran after their poor friend.

"Run faster, Ko!" Moegi yelled.

"Run!" Udon urged.

"WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M DOING, YOU GUYS?!" Ko screamed, barely keeping ahead of the raging pink monster.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU TWERP!" Sakura screeched.

"NOOOOO!" Ko cried, tears streaming down his face in waterfalls. Despite his blurry vision, Ko kept running as fast as he could. He was too young to die...

In all but three seconds, Konohamaru heard a light gasp behind him as the Killing Intent from the girl was abruptly stifled, and he heard a sickening crack as he collided with a pained yelp into what felt like a cement wall. Ko gasped in pain as he smacked off of the surface and crumpled into an aching heap on the ground.

Before he could even groan in pain because of his bruising shoulder, someone grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him skyward roughly.

Ko could hardly hold back his yells as the stranger shook him angrily, jostling his probably dislocated shoulder. Ko's terrified eyes looked up to the stranger, whose painted features twisted into an ugly snarl.

"Why won't you watch where you're going, you little brat." The man growled. His head was hooded in black, and his face was decorated in scary purple and white warpaint.

"I-I'm sorry! Let me go, p-please..." Ko gasped, his shoulder making his eyes water in pain.

Ko could hear the pink-haired girl say something and another girl's annoyed voice from somewhere nearby, but it was muted as he saw the strange man's face change to one of dark amusement, and he felt horrified as the grip on his shirt tightened. The man gave a laugh. "And why would I listen to either of you?" he smirked, replying to the banshee girl's comment. "I think I should teach this little brat a lesson.." he laughed.

Konohamaru forgot all about his dislocated shoulder as he began to writhe in panic. This guy was going to hurt him! "N-NO! Let me down, PLEASE!"

He whimpered as the hooded boy gave him another shake. "Shut it, kid!" he growled.

From another view, Naruto had just rounded the corner. He was searching for his friend Konohamaru who had been chased off by his pink-haired teammate in a fit of rage. For some reason he had a terrible feeling that something was about to happen, so he had to protect Konohamaru with his life, even if that meant taking the hits for him from an enraged fangirl. _Insert shudder here._

When Naruto was about to turn the corner that the two had disappeared around, he heard the worrying voice of the girl who was murderous just a second before.

"W-Wait! I-It was my fault, please put him down!"

Naruto's anger rushed to the surface, only one thing in mind: _If they hurt him I'll turn them INSIDE OUT!_

Naruto dashed around the corner, seething. He saw a tall boy with a cat-eared hood holding Konohamaru up by his collar, and said boy's face was scrunched up in pain and fear. Behind the cat-boy was a blonde girl with a giant fan as a weapon. Sakura was standing a few feet away from them with her fists clenched. When Naruto saw the arrangement, he growled lowly, marching forward and past Sakura angrily.

"Put him down you freak!" Naruto said hotly, now standing halfway between Sakura and the newcomers.

The cat-boy narrowed his eyes. Ko reacted to his voice, seemingly in a daze of pain. "NARUTO NII-SAN!" he screeched, "HELP!"

Sakura choked as an enormous amount of killer intent thickened in the air surrounding them. She felt as if she should hear- no, COULD hear the intent practically whispering excited crazed instructions on who to kill, how to kill, how painful, for _how long_ -

Sakura fell to the ground with a horrified look as the killer intent overtook her, filling her head with the promise of death.

As Sakura fell, Naruto took one murderous step towards the black clad boy, who was quivering in fear, though he still held up better than Sakura. The blonde girl was frozen wide eyed, as she had only felt this from one other person.

Naruto took a deep breath as he tried to reign in his killing intent, just barely stopping himself from flashing them his red eyes for Ko to see (something else he now had to control along with anger, thanks to Sasuke at the bridge in Wave).

The killing intent lessened, although just barely.

Suddenly there was a cold hand pressed against Naruto's chest, stopping him from proceeding.

Sasuke Uchiha had appeared, probably drawn towards the immense amount of the killing intent, annoyed that it was stirring up the civilians and the jounin.

"What are you doing, dobe?! The civilians-"

Dark eyes locked onto Naruto's own, and Naruto growled again. _"I swear to fucking Kami, Uchiha... If you don't get out of my way..."_

Sasuke froze, eyes widening. "Its... You're him." he said unnerved.

Naruto grinned ferally, eyes flickering between colors. _"Yeah... And if you don't move... **you'll** be Uchiha confetti."_

Sasuke's eyes narrowed before his stubbornness took over. "No. You have to calm down."

Naruto snarled. "NO?!-"

Sasuke glared. "The ANBU are coming, you better stop before they notice." he said. Naruto growled, raising his hand to bitch-slap the Uchiha into the next generation before he froze, alarm bells ringing.

Here.

Close.

Near.

Close, very close.

Naruto's thoughts ran wild, but his body remained frozen, _What is that? That feeling... Near. It's close, very close.._

Naruto's thoughts had stopped making sense as soon as he felt that strong chill again, one thought simply repeating itself as he stood there. _Close, very close. Where? Close, **so close...**_

Sasuke didn't know why Naruto had stopped responding, but took advantage of the fact that the KI had stopped. He turned to the two Suna nin (judging from their hitai-ate) with a full force glare.

"Put the boy down," Sasuke said. "Before I let him do what he wants with you." he jerked his head back towards Naruto, acting as if he was the only thing holding him back.

The cat-boy slowly lowered Ko down to the ground, and the boy was doing pretty good to have been held up in the air with a dislocated shoulder.

Naruto dimly acknowledged Sasuke ordering Sakura, who had somewhat snapped out of it, to help Konohamaru up and helping him away. His mind was still reeling.

 _Where? Close, so close... Where?_ , He thought. Naruto inhaled sharply as his senses zeroed in. _There! Right there! Close!_

Sasuke noticed, looking at him warily before turning to speak to the cat-boy. "I don't care what you are here for, but you just assaulted the Hokage's grandson. You can get imprisoned for that."

Cat-boy waved his hands nervously. "W-Wait! I didn't even know he was-"

 _"Kankuro."_ Cat-boy flinched violently as a soft voice interrupted him.

Naruto and Sasuke turned in time to see a red haired boy standing upside down on a nearby tree branch dissapear in a swirl of sand. He reappeared directly in front of the two Genin, facing the Suna nin.

"You're an embarrassment to our Village..." the boy said. His small frame was dominated by a large gourd which seemed to be made of a dark colored sand.

Naruto's eyes had glazed over while looking at the boy's red hair, but Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Why would a kid that skinny turn his back on two possible opponents? No way he could believe himself to be that powerful...

Cat-boy, Kankuro, was shaking like a leaf in fear. "G-Gaara! I-I didn't-"

"Shut up." the red-head stated. "Or I'll kill you." Kankuro quickly snapped his mouth shut and stepped back, lowering his gaze to the ground.

The red haired boy slowly turned around. One darkly circled eye made contact with Sasuke's, before he turned completely, revealing a watery teal color to show in his pupil-less, emotionless eyes.

Naruto's mouth was glued shut, he felt as if knew this kid...

"I apologize for my siblings' incompetence." he said, his tone uncaring. "It will not happen again, I am sure."

In that one moment, Gaara's eyes flickered from Sasuke's to Naruto... Then flicked lazily back to the dark haired boy.

In that one second when their eyes made contact, Naruto's mind was assaulted with memories of a long forgotten dream.

* * *

 _Watery teal eyes looked up at him with a sense of distrust. "Why are you being nice to me?! I'm a monster!"_

* * *

 _"Show them they don't mess with us! We better, and stronger, and they be mean to us!? No way! Don't let them be, ototou." A confident nod, a pat on the head._

* * *

 _"You said you won't be yourself anymore! Will I ever see you again?" A brown teddy, large sad eyes._

* * *

 _"...you make me myself again, okay ototou?"_

* * *

 **(A/N: Lol, just like Rick Riordan, I found a cliffhanger discount. X''D)**


	7. 3: Look At Me- 2

**Ohayo, minna! Sorry not sorry about the cliffie! :)**

* * *

 **Arc 3**

 **When Our Tails Are Tied- Part Three: Look At Me-**

 **Section 2**

* * *

 _"Make me myself again, okay Otouto?"_

Naruto whimpered aloud as the seal on his came back full force, making his body freeze up.

Sasuke looked at him in confusion, before noticing that the three Suna nin were walking away. "Hey, wait!" he said. "What's your name?"

The three stopped, and the blonde girl pointed at herself in disbelief. Sasuke nearly groaned in irritation. Stupid fangirls... "No, the red head."

Gaara raised a nonexistent eyebrow. "Me? I am... Interested in who you are as well." Naruto could distinctly feel a strong bout of jealousy stirring inside him as the Uchiha smirked at that. Who was he to hog the red head to himself?

"I am Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke told the boy, although said boy seemed to be completely indifferent to meeting the famed 'last Uchiha'.

Gaara glared at the arrogant genin. "My name is Subaku no Gaara _**(Gaara of the Sand)**_... I look forward to fighting you in the exams."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Exams? As in The Chuunin exams? This just keeps getting better. "Hn. Same." he smirked.

Naruto, seeing the end of this confrontation through his inner struggling, forced his will to battle with that of the seal's. _Dammit, GET HIS ATTENTION!_

As this was a regular sequence that the seal went through (being obnoxious, loud, and attention seeking), the fault allowed Naruto to slip past its control for a mere second, but that was all he needed.

"W-Wait!" his weak voice called out, just before the red haired twelve year old turned away again. "D-Don't you want to know my name?!" Naruto ignored how desperate he must have sounded, because he _was_ that desperate.

Gaara turned to him with a slight frown. "...No."

Naruto fell back a step, control over the seal tightening subconsiously. _He... He doesn't... Even remember me?_

"Y-You..." Naruto stammered, sounding hurt. But that pain quickly flew to the wind. "You..." he growled, reigning in all of his chakra in anger, snatching back his control over the seal.

"YOU..." he seethed, balling his fists in anger. A sharp cracking sound filled the air, as if some glass was under immense pressure. A red glow flared into existence around the malevolent blonde, whose said hair was burning the bright color away, leaving a shocking red in its wake. His eyes were lowered towards the ground. Black ash floated skyward from his clothing.

All the surrounding genins were frozen in terror, although Gaara was watching the transformation with some sort of awed excitement. Although every last one of them took a few steps back as a wave of heat erupted from the former blonde, his hideous orange jacket going up in flames, slightly longer red hair flickering and writhing like an angry possessed fire.

"Gaara..." Naruto slowly lifted his head as his skin shifted from sunny tan to a soft pale, rage on all of his pointed features. "You... _yo_ _ **u**_ _..._ _ **LIST**_ _EN W_ _ **HEN**_ _Y_ _ **OUR**_ _ **OLDE**_ _R_ _ **BROTH**_ _ER_ _ **IS TAL**_ _KING_ _ **TO YOU**_ _!"_ He growled, launching himself at the fellow jinchuuriki in a blur of red.

There was a sound of smashing glass as the two red- haired teens blurred out of sight, before coming to a halt with an audible screech. Naruto's fist was encased in crystallized sand, which was about an inch away from Gaara's face, which had large cracks in it that were steadily trickling streams of sand.

The other genin gave out cries of shock, but Gaara grinned insanely as his eyes momentarily flashed a pale gold. Gaara's sand held the ex-blonde away, and now he could see the boy's enraged snarl up close, blue eyes flashing icily. Finally, a worthy opponent!

"How dare you..." Naruto snarled.

Gaara grinned in his face. "Gomenosai _**(I apologize)**_ , but I have no idea what you mean."

The two looked at each other for a second longer, then the glass around Naruto's fist exploded as his arm glowed white hot. Naruto pulled his hand away and twisted into a harsh kick aimed for Gaara's head, which was blocked by another wave of sand. Gaara tried to wrap his sand around Naruto's waist, but was stopped as a white hot foot smashed into his stomach, and Naruto was rocketed away from him.

Said boy rolled into a crouch as he came to a stop several feet from his opponent.

Naruto growled quietly as his blue eyes glared angrily from behind his long curtain of bangs.

Gaara was visibly shaking, one hand pressed against his stomach wound.

Sasuke, Kankuro, and Temari watched from where they stood with shock.

"He's never gotten hurt before.." Kankuro muttered. Temari looked on, worried. "Just who the hell is that guy?!"

Sasuke said nothing, but he did turn when three new presences appeared behind them. Kakashi stood behind him looking more alert than the genin had ever seen him, with what appeared to be two more jounin.

The male jounin gaped at the two redheads from where he stood, his lit cigarette tumbling from his mouth. The two charged each other again, going at such high speeds that it was almost hard for them to follow. The female jounin gasped at the sight, her exotic red eyes wide. "Holy..." She breathed.

"Sasuke! What happened here?" Kakashi demanded. Sasuke frowned. "Naruto. That's what." He pointed at the now (finally) red haired Uzumaki, who had just gotten up from being thrown half a yard away from his opponent, who was panting and severely injured in many places.

Kakashi looked confused, but then his eyes found the telltale whisker like marks that marred the person's angry face. In an instant he whirled on his two comrades.

"Asuma!" The now named Asuma straightened, on high alert. "Go alert Hokage-sama that Naruto has been affected. No side stops, and _no one_ is to hear of this along the way!" Kakashi barked. Asuma's eyes widened, before he disappeared in a Body Flicker.

"Kurenai! Alert the ANBU to set up a perimeter, nobody enters or exits this district until Hokage-sama and Asuma returns. All remaining jounin are to help make sure all of this is kept under wraps!"

Kurenai gave a sharp salute. "HAI, Taichou." She Body Flickered away.

Kakashi turned back to Sasuke, who was kind of freaked out to see his deranged teacher acting like a shinobi for once. "Hey! You three will tell me _exactly_ what happened here." He said, gathering the attention of the two Suna genin.

"To be honest... I have no idea." Kankuro said. Temari agreed, and Sasuke merely became entranced in the ongoing fight, which had seemingly escalated while his attention was diverted.

Gaara was not happy. At first he was exhilarated that he had finally found someone to match his power, someone worthy of his full attention.

But now... Now he was pissed. His head had a huge gash in it from a brutal kick that his opponent had landed, and the blood ran into one of his eyes so he couldn't see clearly. His chest and stomach ached, bruises already forming. He had many burns running up down his hands and forearms. His sand swirled erratically, angrily... Frustrated that he couldn't catch the boy. When he did catch him, the boy would superheat his sand into crystals, taking more and more from his defense.

Though what really made him mad was the fact that the boy wasn't even hurt. Those times where Gaara could get the sand to wrap around his chest and/or arms and crush them, the boy would only growl before the limbs and ribs fixed themselves, snapping and crunching as the bones relocated themselves to the proper position.

Gaara seethed in frustration as he lost more of his sand trying to block a kick aimed for his side, yet the impact still made his bones ache. Actual pain really hurt, fuck.

He pushed the boy away again, sending him sliding backwards several feet. This time though, he stayed in his crouched position.

"Do you..." Naruto looked up, breathing heavily as he spoke. "Do you seriously not remember?" He asked.

Gaara glared at him from the safety of where he stood. "No... I told you earlier. I have NO. IDEA. WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT."

Naruto gave an aggravated growl once again, but seemed to have reigned in his anger a bit. He threw his hands into the air and cursed under his breath. Er... almost under his breath.

"GAH! KAMI FUCKING DAMMIT- FUCK!" After his little tantrum, Naruto gave a defeated groan, both hands resting on top of his head before sliding down the length of his face. "All the damn _Sandaime's_ fault..." He muttered to himself.

Naruto's cerulean eyes locked with Gaara's pale teal eyes.

"Do you _really_ not recognise me?" His tone was defeated, sad eyes gazing at the other.

Gaara shook his head, eyes clouded with pain and confusion. "I... I recognize your power... It's...familiar.."

Naruto gave a start as an idea struck him. "So you remember some part of me... How about this, then?"

Gaara stared in shock as his opponent started to change, his red hair shortening and turning into a much lighter shade of glowing red. Red chakra flared around the boy, forming large red visages of tails behind him. As the chakra poured outward, blood poured from the six whisker like scars as they tore open viciously. His eyes flickered visibly as one gained a shattered glass look and the other turned a burning bright red.

Both were slit like a predator's.

Gaara shrunk backwards in fear, a feeling he rarely felt.

Naruto took a step towards the retreating boy, a disappointed look marring his blood covered face.

"Do you not remember me, outoto?" He asked. "It has been a while... eight years, I think. But still..." Naruto's face shadowed. "The _least_ you could have done was recognised me."

Gaara stumbled over his own feet at the harsh, clipped words that had just escaped the boy's lips. Gaara flinched as his eyes made contact with the mismatched colored ones. "I-I'm sorry... I don't-"

"I see."

Gaara felt his new sense of fear grow even further, as the boy whispered that small sentence.

"I understand that it has been quite a while, and I'll even admit that a couple of minutes ago, I had no idea who you were either. But at least I recognised you. I _remembered_ you. Why can't you do the same for me?" Naruto's voice had dissolved into a low murmur, his eyes glazed with unshed tears.

"You promised me..." He stepped closer to Gaara, now just an arm's reach away. "You promised that you would help me.. make me myself again. Do you remember that, outoto?"

Tears fell from the Uzumaki's red framed face. He daringly reached his arm across the small gap between them, to rest gently on the other boy's head. "You did it." He said softly.

 _"You saved me."_


	8. 4: True Uzumaki-1

**When Our Tails Are Tied- Part Four: True Uzumaki- Section One**

Warmth.

It was a foreign feeling that Gaara wasn't used to. Being an insane 12 year old serial killer, it wasn't even a feeling he should even recognize.

Yet, this warmth was different. There was a certain familiarity of the abnormally hot hand atop his head.

 _"You saved me."_

The two different colored eyes gazed at him with an intensity, the sadness and anger reflected through the shattered blue and ferocious red.

Those words left an odd feeling in his chest, and confused him to no end.

He had saved someone... How? How had he, a _murderer_ , saved someone's life? Impossible...

The warm hand slid down from Gaara's mass of blood red hair, to caress his face ever so gently.

The heterochrome eyed boy pushed Gaara's hair out of his face, clearing away some blood in the process.

Naruto frowned. "This tattoo..." he murmured. "It _was_ just a dream but... this wasn't here the last time I saw you."

Gaara flinched slightly.

Naruto chuckled. " _'Love'_ , eh?"

" _Stop_."

Gaara's voice shocked himself.

"Stop doing this..." Gaara pushed down that odd feeling that was still bothering him and glared at Naruto, who looked slightly surprised. Gaara pushed his hand away roughly.

"Just stop... You don't... You don't _know-_ " Gaara growled.

Naruto stared down at him indifferently. "Yes I do."

Gaara's sand flared dangerously. "Stop lying-!"

"Shukaku, the One Tailed Raccoon Dog. Extremely unstable. Was once sealed inside a teapot, and now tends to drive his hosts to near insanity." Naruto stated icily.

Gaara stumbled backwards. "S-Stop!"

Naruto continued, following him step after step.

"They treat you like a monster, don't they? You're a menace, a freak, a _danger_ to your village..." Naruto intoned, and Gaara shook his head in denial, still moving away.

"You don't understand why they hate you, so you become what they hate. Give the people what they want, and all that shit, right?"

"No! It's their fault I'm like this, I didn't do anything, I swear!"

At this Naruto halted in his steps, but after a few seconds, he spoke. "No... I know it's not your fault, otouto. Nor is it theirs."

Gaara's eyes held nothing but fear and confusion.

"It's mine, it's my fault you lived these years immersed in nothing but hatred for others, and fear of dying without purpose. It was only in a chakra infused dream that we met, but I should've done something."

"I haven't slept in eight years, not even once... how could you expect me to remember.." Gaara said.

Naruto hung his head. _Eight years withought sleep, huh? Well then, sleep Little Brother. I'll take care of you now._

"Then I'll do what I can..." he said softly. Gaara's eyes widened but he couldn't speak, as volatile red chakra had already surrounded him, taking his voice.

Naruto looked up at him, with sad eyes which had returned to their crystal-clear blue color. "Sleep now, otouto. I will always protect you," he said, as the red chakra solidified into a single red tail of chakra.

Gaara didn't know how he wasn't hurt by the hot red chakra, but it certainly was affecting him, the pulsing feeling of warmth was slowly clouding his mind with an unfamiliar feeling-

Exhaustion.

Before he could even ponder at what would happen to the red haired boy and the surrounding ninja, Gaara succumbed to the will of the chakra and passed out cold.

Naruto watched as Gaara fell, tightening his tail around the boy, it expanding and splitting into two larger tails to maintain the massive surge of chakra that emanated from the Ichibi Jinchuuriki. None of this bothered the formerly blonde haired genin, as he simply countered both the new chakra and the luminous red chakra with his own blue core, neutralizing both with a more soothing effect.

"Kyuubi."

The one voice that Naruto didn't want to hear right now, it spoke that wretched name that made his gut twist in an unpleasant way.

Without turning around, Naruto answered, "Sandaime-sama." He could feel the chakra of the Hokage and multiple ANBU, along with most of the jounin of the village.

"I would most appreciate it if you didn't call me that." Naruto growled. He pulled the sleeping Suna ninja closer to his back, the chakra tails curling upward and behind him.

"And why not? That is your title, correct?" Sandaime goaded.

Naruto's hair flickered into flames as he turned to face the Hokage, revealing clear blue eyes that sparked in rage. "No... I was under the impression that my title was _supposed_ to be Lord Uzumaki-Namikaze."

Sarutobi, not quite the aged old man, frowned slightly. "Your eyes... you are not under the Nine Tails' influence."

"Nor am I under yours." Naruto grinned at him, barely hiding beneath the surface of the Hokage's eyes showed a bit of panic.

"How?" Sarutobi asked boldly, needing the answer of _how?_ How could this child disperse of a seal of such high caliber?

Naruto flashed his teeth at the man. "You've made a lot of mistakes, Hokage-sama. No surprise, that seal of yours was one and included one." His tails flexed around the sleeping child again and the ninja tittered on the sidelines.

Naruto eyes wandered, noticing his teacher, the ever lazy Hatake Kakashi, standing a bit behind the Hokage, as tense as ever but no weapons drawn. His hands were out were everyone could see them, clenched into fists, unwilling to fight.

Naruto, seeing this, calmed down. There was no reason to fight here, with all of these innocent people.

"Why?" Naruto rebuked, ignoring Sarutobi's question. "Why should I tell you? Why should we have to fight, have so many people getting hurt without reason? Look at your ninja," he snapped. "Some of them aren't ready to fight the ' _Kyuubi'_." he mocked. The newer ANBU recruits tightened their grip on their blades.

"Hell, some of them aren't even willing to fight. Why should they?"

Kakashi's fists tightened, what little showed of his face remained stoic, and he did not move under the gazes that were suddenly directed to him.

Naruto glared at Sarutobi. "Give them a reason they should fight. Tell them of your mistakes, what you have done, and what right it gives you to challenge me, after all your crimes against me."

Sarutobi's gaze stayed steady, but he said nothing. The shinobi behind him shifted.

" _Tell them_ , old man!" Naruto yelled, chakra tails glowing in anger. "Tell them what you did to me, how you took away the life of a _six year old child_!"

"I did what I had to do." Sarutobi said calmly.

"You sealed me away!" Naruto roared. "I was a _child_ , who had been pushed over the edge! You didn't try to listen to what my words words told you, my wounds told you, or even what my FUCKING GUARD said! You locked me away!"

The chakra of the imprisoned Ichibi began to leak out at his bloodlust, but Naruto expanded and thickened his tail still.

"How can you stand there and think you have done this village right? After what you have done there is nothing I would like more than to see the Hokage tower burn... 'Will of fire' indeed." Naruto sneered.

"But sadly I have need for this place now, I have... attachments." Naruto scowled.

"Now, I apologize, but I have to take someone somewhere.." Naruto said softly, turning back the way he came when chasing Ko and his friends.

"No."

Naruto paused, then turned back to the Sandaime. "No?" he questioned, seeing the weapons held ready in Sarutobi's hands.

The Hokage's eyes glinted as he shifted his stance. "I'm afraid you're going to have to come with us."

Naruto adjusted his tails once more as his body language turned aggressive. "Then _I'm_ afraid I'm going to have to hurt you."

"Stop."

The two held back their attacks as Kakashi stepped forward between the two.

Kakashi stood between them, his aura making him older than his silver hair made him look. "I was there, that night." he said.

"When?" Sarutobi snapped. "The night this beast killed your sensei?"

Naruto's chakra flared. "The night you tried _killing his sensei's son!_ He was there for _both!_ And that's a hell of a lot more than you've done! You stood by and _let_ my dad die-"

"Shut up!" Kakashi snapped, and small bolts of lightning sparked from his fingers.

"You would betray your village?" Sarutobi challenged, angry that one of his best soldiers would defy him.

"You said he was not being influenced." Kakashi looked his leader in his eyes. "That night... You sent me after Naruto. You told me you could fix what had been done to him, that if I could only detain him, everything would be fine."

"I've seen how he acted after that incident, and any Nara can tell you that its not natural. Whatever you have done to him, I will not let you do it again."

Kakashi stood with his back to his student.

"Go." he said.

And Naruto went.

Not one ninja dared follow.


End file.
